DUKE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

DURHAM,  NORTH  CAROLINA 


GIFT 

OF 


FRIENDS  OF 
DUKE  UNIVERSITY 
LIBRARY 

FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 
WILLIAM  K.BOYD 

BY 


HIS..  LAUGHTER. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/politicalhistory01will 


A 


POLITICAL  HISTORY 


IRELAND, 


SHOWING-  ITS  CONNEXION  WITH  ENGLAND,  FROM  THE  ANGLO-NORMAN 
4k  CONQUEST,  IN  1172,  BY  HENRY  II. , 


TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME. 


BY  EDWIN  WILLIAMS. 


NEW- YORK:.  . 
PUBLISHED  BY  R.  ?.  BIXBY  & CO., 


NO.  3 PARK  ROW. 


JARED  W.BELL,  PRINTER 


1843. 


4 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1843,  by 
II.  P.  BIXBY  CO., 

in  the  Clerk’s  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Southern  District  of  New-York. 


# 


/ 


PREFACE. 

— 


/ 

7 


The  object  of  this  work  is  briefly  to  delineate  the  prominent  political 
events  in  the  History  of  Ireland,  from  the  Anglo-Norman  Conquest,  in  the 
twelfth  century,  to  the  present  time.  The  difficulty  of  the  task  has  been, 
to  compress,  within  one  hundred  pages,  a narrative  of  the  historical  oc- 
currences of  nearly  seven  centuries,  with  the  necessary  inferences  and 
remarks,  for  a full  understanding  of  the  progress  of  events,  and  the  de- 
velopment of  national  character,  under  changes  of  circumstances.  How 
well  this  task  has  been  performed,  I leave  the  reader  to  judge. 

Among  the  numerous  authors  on  the  History  of  Ireland,  whom  I have 
consulted,  may  be  mentioned  Moore,  Plowden,  Taylor,  Barlow,  and 
some  others.  Of  these  historians,  I have  preferred  Thomas  Moore,  as  far 
as  he  goes.  Besides  the  advantage  of  being  a native  of  the  country  on 
which  he  writes,  to  be  relied  on  for  his  candor  and  historical  accuracy  ; 
the  elegance  of  his  diction,  and  the  graphic  style  of  his  narrative,  renders 
his  work  very  attractive  ; and  the  pleasure  of  abridging  such  parts  as  I 
have  adopted,  has  always  been  attended  with  regret,  that  so  many  of 
his  beauties  must  be  omitted. 

It  may  be  thought  by  some,  that  the  political  events  recorded  in  these 
pages  are  somewhat  unequally  distributed,  the  reigns  of  the  Kings  of 
England  previous  to  the  Reformation,  occupying  the  largest  proportion  of 
the  work.  To  this  I may  reply,  that  the  early  part  of  the  Anglo-Irish  history 
appears  to  be  less  known  than  that  of  more  recent  date,  and  it  will  be  found 
that  many  of  the  occurrences  of  the  first  three  centuries  after  the  English 
Conquest,  are  deeply  interesting,  and  important  to  be  understood  by 
those  who  would  wish  to  trace  the  progress  of  events  which  gradually 
led  to  the  Union  between  England  and  Ireland. 

This  history,  it  will  be  observed,  is  arranged  in  chronological  order, 
divided  into  twelve  Chapters,  containing  a sketch  of  the  principal  oc- 
currences in  Ireland  during  the  reigns  of  all  the  English  sovereigns, 
from  Henry  IT.  to  Victoria.  The  want  of  such  a continuous  history  of 
Ireland  has  induced  me  to  undertake  this  epitome,  and  I trust  it  will  be 
found  acceptable  to  inquirers  ; without  reference  to  those  individuals 


4 


PREFACE. 


among  Americans,  who,  caring  little  about  facts,  desire  to  make  political 
capital  out  of  the  question  of  “ Repeal,”  until  they  are  alarmed  and  dis- 
persed by  an  anti-slavery  rocket,  thrown  up  from  the  shores  of  Ireland, 
by  one  not  less  ardent,, perhaps,  in  the  cause  of  human  liberty,  than  was 
his  countryman,  Curran,  when  animated  by  “ the  genius  of  universal 
emancipation.” 

No  philanthropist  can  view  the  dark  picture  of  human  misery  dis- 
closed in  the  following  sketch,  without  feeling  the  deepest  sympathy  for 
the  wrongs  of  the  suffering  nation  who  have  been  the  objects  of  it.  With- 
out dwelling  on  the  past,  which  cannot  be  recalled  ; to  devise  a remedy 
for  present  evils,  is  the  question,  in  which  all  who  are  of  Anglo-Saxon  or 
Irish  descent,  must  feel  an  interest.  While,  however,  the  British  ministry, 
and  the  British  nation,  acknowledge  that  this  is  a puzzle,  to  he  settled  by 
the  developments  of  the  future,  it  cannot  be  expected  that  we,  on  this 
side  of  the  Atlantic,  should  undertake  to  solve  the  problem,  in  advance. 


the  pope’s  bull  to  HENRY  II. 


7 


satisfied  that  a Norman  conquest  of  the  Irish  would  be  as  beneficial 
to  that  people,  as  the  conquerors  considered  the  same  had  been  to 
the  English. 

Henry  II.  ascended  the  throne  of  England,  in  the  year  1154,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-one.  In  his  person,  the  families  of  the  Norman 
and  Saxon  Monarchs  were  united,  and  he  was  the  greatest  Prince 
of  his  time,  for  political  ability.  Having  soon  projected  the  acqui- 
sition of  Ireland,  this  ambitious  young  Monarch  set  about  attaining 
his  object  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign.  But  as  he  had  no  legal 
right  to  the  possession,  nor  any  ground  of  quarrel  to  justify  an 
invasion,  he  concluded  to  mask  his  real  motive  under  a pretended 
zeal  for  the  interests  of  religion  and  morality.  With  this  view,  he 
despatched  an  envoy  to  Rome,  where  in  1154,  an  Englishman, 
named  Breakspear,  had  been  chosen  Pope,  under  the  title  of 
Adrian  IY.  In  applying  to  this  Pope,  for  leave  to  take  possession 
of  Ireland,  Henry  acknowledged  in  him  an  extent  of  temporal 
power,  beyond  that  which  even  Popes  had  then  thought  proper  to 
assume,  and  the  two  Englishmen  seem  to  have  understood  each 
other  remarkably  well  in  this  matter,  for  the  Pope  in  his  answer  to 
the  King,  repeated  what  the  latter  admitted,  and  claimed  a right 
and  jurisdiction,  not  only  over  Ireland,  but  over  all  other  Christian 
Islands.  The  following  is  a copy  of  this  document/ 

BULL  OF  POPE  ADRLAN  IV., 

BY  WHICH  HE  GRANTED  IRELAND  TO  HENRY  II. 

Adrian,  tlie  Bishop,  the  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  to  his  most  dear  son  in  Christ, 
the  noble  King  of  England,  sendeth  greeting  and  Apostolic  benediction.  Your  magnificence 
hath  been  very  careful  and  studious  how  you  might  enlarge  the  Church  of  God  here  on 
earth,  and  increase  the  number  of  saints  and  elect  in  heaven,  in  that  as  a good  Catholic 
King,  you  have  and  do  by  all  means  labor  and  travail  to  enlarge  and  increase  God’s  Church, 
by  teaching  the  ignorant  people  the  true  and  Christian  religion,  and  in  abolishing  and 
rooting  up  the  weeds  of  sin  and  wickedness.  And  wherein  you  have,  and  do  crave,  for 
your  better  furtherance,  the  help  of  the  Apostolic  See,  (wherein  more  speedily  and  dis- 
creetly you  proceed,)  the  better  success,  we  hope  God  will  send  ; for  all  they,  which  of 
a fervent  zeal  and  love  in  religion,  do  begin  and  enterprise  any  such  thing,  shall  no  doubt 
in  the  end,  have  a good  and  prosperous  success.  And  as  for  Ireland,  and  all  other  Islands 
where  Christ  is  known  and  the  Christian  religion  received,  it  is  out  of  all  doubt,  and  your 
excellency  well  knoweth,  they  do  all  appertain  and  belong  to  the  right  of  St.  Peter,  and  of 
the  Church  of  Rome  ; and  we  are  so  much  the  more  ready,  desirous,  and  willing,  to  sow 
the  acceptable  seed  of  God’s  word,  because  we  know  the  same  in  the  latter  day  will  be 
most  severely  required  at  your  hands.  You  have,  (our  well  beloved  son  in  Christ,) 
advertised  and  signified  unto  us,  that  you  will  enter  into  the  land  and  realm  of  Ireland,  to 
the  end  to  bring  them  to  obedience  unto  law,  and  under  your  subjection,  and  to  root  out 

* See  Leland,  Winne,  Plowden,  and  Moore’s  Histories  of  Ireland. 


367308 


s 


PAPAL  GRANT  TO  HENRY  II. 


from  among  them  their  foul  sine  and  wickedness;  as  also  to  yield  and  pay  yearly  out  of 
every  house,  a yearly  pension  of  one  penny  to  St.  Peter,  and  besides  also  will  defend  and  keep 
the  rites  of  those  Churches  whole  and  inviolate.  We,  therefore,  well  allowingand  favoring 
this  your  godly  disposition  and  affection,  do  accept,  ratify, and  assent,  unto  this  your  petition, 
and  do  grant  that  you,  (for  the  dilating  of  God’s  Church,  the  punishment  of  sin,  the  reform- 
ing of  manners,  the  planting  of  virtue,  and  the  increasing  of  the  Christian  religion,)  do  enter 
to  possess  that  land,  and  there  to  execute,  according  to  your  wisdom,  whatsoever  shall  be 
for  the  honor  of  God,  and  the  safety  of  the  realm.  And  further  also,  we  do  strictly  charge 
and  require,  that  all  the  people  of  that  land  do  with  all  humbleness,  dutifulness,  and  honor 
receive  and  accept  you  as  their  liege  lord  and  sovereign,  reserving  and  excepting  the 
right  of  Holy  Church  to  be  inviolably  preserved,  as  also  the  yearly  pension  of  Peter 
pence  out  of  every  house,  which  we  require  to  be  strictly  answered  to  St  Peter, 
and  to  the  Church  of  Rome.  If,  therefore,  you  do  mind  to  bring  your  godly  purpose  to 
effect,  endeavor  to  travail  to  reform  the  people  to  some  better  order  and  trade  of  life, 
and  that  also  by  yourself,  and  by  such  others  as  you  shall  think  meet,  true  and  honest  in 
their  life,  manners  and  conversation,  to  the  end  the  Church  of  God  may  be  beautified,  the 
true  Christian  religion,  sowed  and  planted,  and  all  other  things  done,  that  by  any  means 
shall  or  may  be  to  God’s  honor  and  salvation  of  men’s  souls,  whereby  you  may  in  the  end 
receive  of  God’s  hands  the  reward  of  everlasting  life,  and  also  in  the  mean  time,  and  in 
this  life  carry  a glorious  fame  and  an  honorable  report  among  all  nations. 

The  permission,  (says  Moore,)  accorded  to  Henry  by  the  Pope,  to 
invade  and  subdue  the  Irish,  for  the  purpose  of  reforming  them,  was 
accompanied  by  a stipulation  for  the  payment  to  St.  Peter,  of  a pen- 
ny annually  from  every  house  in  Ireland,  this  being  the  price  for 
which  the  independence  of  the  Irish  people  was  coolly  bartered 
away.  Together  with  the  Bull,  containing  the  grant  and 
stipulation,  was  sent  also  to  Henry  a gold  ring,  adorned  with  a 
valuable  emerald,  as  a token  of  his  investiture  with  the  right  to  rule 
over  Ireland. 

Having  obtained  this  Bull  from  the  Pope,  other  schemes  and  more 
pressing  interests  diverted  the  attention  of  King  Henry,  and  the 
opinion  of  his  mother  Matilda,  being  opposed  to  his  Irish  enterprise, 
the  Bull  was  left  to  repose,  undisturbed  for  some  years,  in  the  ar- 
chives of  Winchester.  On  the  death  of  Pope  Adrian,  in  the  year 
1159,  Henry  applied  to  his  successor,  at  Rome,  for  a confirma- 
tion of  the  grant  of  Ireland,  which  was  readily  complied  with,  in 
the  following  Bull  of  Pope  Alexander  III. 

“Alexander,  the  Bishop,  the  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  to  his  dearly  beloved  son, 
the  noble  King  of  England,  greeting,  grace  and  Apostolic  benediction.  For  as  much  as 
things  given  and  granted  upon  good  reason  by  our  predecessors,  are  to  be  well  allowed  of, 
ratified  and  confirmed,  we  well  considering  and  pondering  the  grant  and  privilege  for,  and 
concerning  the  dominion  of  the  land  of  Ireland  to  us  appertaining,  and  lately  given  by 
our  predecessor,  we  following  his  steps,  do  in  like  manner  confirm,  ratify,  and  allow  the 
same;  reserving  and  saving  to  St.  Peter  and  to  the  Church  of  Rome,  the  yearly  pension  of 
one  penny  out  of  every  house,  as  well  in  England  as  in  Ireland.  Provided  also,  that  the 
barbarous  people  of  Ireland,  by  your  means,  be  reformed  and  recovered  from  their  filthy 


S98?ac 


BARGAIN  AND  SALE. 


9 


lif«  and  abominable  conversation;  that  in  name,  so  in  life  and  manners  they  may^be  Chris- 
tians, and  that  as  that  rude  and  disordered  Church,  being  by  you  reformed,  the  whole 
nation  may  also,  with  the  possession  of  the  name,  he  in  acts  and  deeds,  followers  of  the 
same.” 

Owing  to  the  secrecy,  doubtless,  with  which  this  singular  grant 
was  negotiated,  no  intimation  seems  to  have  reached  Ireland  of  even 
the  existence  of  such  a document,  during  the  whole  oftne  long  in- 
terval that  elapsed  between  its  first  grant  and  the  time  of  its  promul- 
gation, which,  according  to  Moore,  was  about  the  year  1175.  Hen- 
ry’s chief  motive  for  so  Ions  delaying  the  promulgation  of  the  Papal 
Bull,  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  fear,  lest  certain  aspersions  con- 
tained in  that  instrument,  as  well  on  the  morals  as  the  religious  doc- 
trines of  the  people  of  Ireland,  might  cause  irritation  among  both 
the  clergy  and  laity,  and  prevent  that  quiet  submission  to  his  claims 
which  he  then  expected.  The  Papal  authority  was  at  last  resorted 
to  by  the  King,  as  a means  of  enlisting  the  great  body  of  the  clergy 
in  his  service,  after  the  Irish  people  had  shown  a disposition  to  resist 
his  invasion. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  first  bargain  and  sale  on  record,  respect- 
ing Ireland,  was  made  by  two  Englishmen,  and  confirmed  by  a Pope 
who  was  not  an  Englishman.  All  others  whom  the  Irish  accuse  of 
having  “sold their  country,”  were,  we  believe,  natives;  as  Dermot 
MacMorrougb,  Lord  Castlereagh,  and  so  on.  Their  native  historian 
makes  this  acknowledgement : 

From  Moore’s  History  of  Ireland. 

The  view  opened  by  the  historian  (Tacitus)  into  the  interior  of  Ireland’s  politics  at 
that  moment — the  divided  and  factious  state  of  her  people,  and  the  line  of  policy,  which 
in  consequence,  the  shrewd  Agricola,  as  ruler  of  Britain,  was  preparing  to  pursue  towards 
them — is  all  of  melancholy  importance,  as  showing  at  how  early  a period  Irishmen  had  be  • 
come  memorable  for  disunion  among  themselves. 

“ One  of  their  petty  Kings,”  says  Tacitus,  “ who  had  heen  forced  to  fly  by  some  do- 
mestic faction,  was  received  by  the  Roman  General,  and  under  a show  of  friendship,  de- 
tained for  ulterior  purposes.”  The  object  of  the  Irishman  was  to  induce  the  Romans  to  in- 
vade his  native  country  ; and  by  his  representations,  it  appears,  Agricola  was  persuaded 
into  the  belief  that,  with  a single  legion,  and  a small  body  of  auxiliaries,  he  could  conquer 
and  retain  possession  of  Ireland. 

It  would  hardly  be  possible,  perhaps  in  the  whole  compass  of  history,  to  find  a picture 
more  pregnant  with  the  future,  more  prospectively  characteristic  than  this,  of  a recreant 
Irish  Prince,  in  the  camp  of  the  Romans,  proffering  his  traitorous  services  to  the  stranger, 
and  depreciating  his  country  as  an  excuse  for  betraying  her.  It  is,  indeed,  mournful  to  re- 
flect, that  at  the  end  of  nearly  eighteen  centuries,  the  features  of  this  national  portrait  should 
remain  so  very  little  altered  ; and  that  with  a change  only  of  scene  from  the  tent  of  the  Ro- 
man General  to  the  closet  of  the  English  Minister  or  Viceroy,  the  spectacle  of  an  Irish- 
man playing  the  game  of  his  country’s  enemies,  has  been,  even  in  modern  history,  an  occur- 
rence by  no  means  rare. — ( Philadelphia  8 vo.  edition,  page  75.) 


1U 


INVASION  AND  CONQUEST  BY  HENRY  II. 


The  fugitive  Irish  Prince,  Dennot,  applied  for  succor  to  Henry- 
11.,  in  1168,  and  ofFered,  if  restored  to  his  kingdom  by  Henry,  to  re- 
ceive it  as  a fief,  and  render  him  homage  as  a vassal.  Upon  this, 
the  King  of  England  granted  him  letters  patent  to  raise  men  and 
money  in  his  dominions ; in  consequence  of  which,  Strongbow, 
Earl  of  Pembroke,  and  others,  engaged  in  the  cause.  The  first 
landing  of  the  Anglo  Normans  in  Ireland,  was  in  1169.  A body 
composed  of  fifty  knights,  ninety  esquires,  and  four  hundred  and  sixty 
archers,  in  all  six  hundred  men,  was  enabled  by  its  superior  disci- 
pline, to  overthrow  the  whole  warlike  force  that  the  Irish  brought 
against  them.  The  invaders,  however,  were  aided  by  the  adhe- 
rents of  Dermot,  among  his  countrymen,  and  afterwards  by  1200 
men  from  England,  under  Strongbow.  The  conquest  was  easily 
completed  by  Henry  in  person,  who  landed  near  Waterford,  in  Ire- 
land, in  October,  1171,  with  500  knights,  and  about  4000  men  at 
arms.  The  Irish  Princes  and  Chieftains  soon  submitted  as  tribu- 
taries. The  ensuing  Christmas,  the  King  gave  an  entertainment, 
to  which  he  invited  many  of  the  Irish  Princes  and  Nobles,  who 
took  their  places  at  the  royal  board,  and  were,  it  is  said,  struck  with 
admiration,  both  at  “the  plenty  of  the  English  table,  and  the  goodly 
courtesy  of  the  attendants.” 

Henry  passed  about  six  months  in  Ireland,  during  which  a Synod 
was  held  by  his  order,  at  Cashel,  for  the  promised  reformation  of 
the  Irish  Church  ; the  acts  of  this  Synod,  however,  do  not  appear 
to  have  amounted  to  much.  A Court  flatterer  of  those  times,  re- 
marks, “ It  was  worthy  and  just  that  Ireland  should  receive  a bet- 
ter form  of  living  from  England,  seeing  that  to  its  magnanimous 
King,  she  entirely  owed  whatever  advantages  she  enjoyed,  both  as 
to  Church  and  State,  and  that  the  manifold  abuses  which  had  pre- 
vailed in  the  country,  had,  since  his  coming,  been  brought  into  dis- 
use.” Moore  says,  there  is  not  anything  found  to  justify  this  pom- 
pous vaunt.  The  King  is  also  said  to  have  held  a Council  of  the 
Realm,  at  Lismore,  in  which  “the  Laws  of  England  were  grate- 
fully accepted  by  all  present,  and  under  the  sanction  of  a solemn 
oath,  established.”  This  Council  could  not  properly  be  called  a 
Parliament,  as  the  Irish  Parliament  was  not  established  for  more 
than  a hundred  years  after  this  period.  The  object  of  the  King,  in 
his  legislative  acts,  through  this  Council  at  Lismore,  (Moore  says,) 
was  not  to  innovate  on  the  ancient  Laws  of  Ireland,  but  to  insure  to 


A POLITICAL 


HISTORY  OF  IRELAND. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTION — ENGLISH  CONQUEST,  BY  HENRY  II. 

The  agitation  of  the  Repeal  question,  by  O’Connell  in  Ireland, 
and  his  countrymen  in  the  United  States,  renders  some  know- 
ledge of  Irish  Political  History  desirable  at  this  time,  and  as  but 
few  in  this  country  have  paid  much  attention  to  the  subject,  it  is 
thought  a brief  sketch  may  not  be  unacceptable  to  the  American 
public. 

But  little  is  known  of  the  ancient  History  of  Ireland,  although 
the  Irish  monks  have  given  a regular  series  of  events,  and  a suc- 
cession of  Kings,  commencing  a few  years  after  the  deluge.  Moore 
(the  Poet,)  is  satisfied  to  commence  his  History  at  one  thousand 
years  before  the  Christian  Era.  Moore’s  work,  is,  however,  an  able 
History,  and  exhibits  great  labor  and  research.  It  comes  down  to 
the  year  1545,  (at  the  close  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,)  and  is, 
we  believe,  to  be  continued  to  the  present  time. 

In  all  probability  the  ancient  Irish  were  like  the  Britons,  of 
Celtic  origin,  for  there  was  a remarkable  similarity  between  their 
language,  manners,  and  customs.  There  are  evidences  that  Phoe- 
necian  colonies  were  established  on  the  Island  at  an  early  period. 
The  Romans  continued  in  possession  of  Britain  for  near  four  hun- 
dred years,  without  a single  Roman  having  been  known  to  set  foot, 
during  that  whole  period,  on  Irish  ground. 

The  form  of  government  of  the  ancient  Irish,  was  a political  con- 
federacy, in  which  separate  States  were  governed  by  different 
Kings  or  Princes;  but  on  the  appearance  of  an  enemy,  a Chief  or 


6 


INVASION  OF  IRELAND. 


General  was  chosen,  who  commanded  their  armies,  and  enjoyed  the 
supreme  authority,  during  the  continuance  of  danger.  In  the  fifth 
century,  Saint  Patrick,  (who  Moore  says  was  a native  of  France, 
others  say  of  Scotland,)  introduced  the  knowledge  of  letters,  and 
planted  Christianity  in  Ireland.  The  country  was  very  friendly  to 
religion,  and  afforded  the  monks  at  once  a safe  retreat,  and  sufficient 
leisure  to  pursue  their  studies.  The  Danes  and  Norwegians  in  the 
eighth  century,  invaded  Ireland,  and  destroyed  the  peace  of  this 
asylum.  They  conquered  a great  part  of  the  sea  coast,  and  built 
several  cities.  These  Northmen  formed  alliances  with  the  natives, 
after  many  contests  with  them.  Renewals  of  hostilities  took  place 
from  time  to  time,  during  the  lapse  of  two  centuries,  resulting  in 
the  final  expulsion  of  the  Northmen  from  Ireland. 

The  English  Dominion  in  Ireland  commenced  in  the  year  1172. 
This  conquest,  for  some  centuries,  however,  extended  over  only  an 
inconsiderable  portion  of  the  Island.  At  the  English  invasion, 
there  were  five  Kings  in  Ireland,  one  of  whom,  Dermot  MacMor- 
rough,  having  been  expelled  from  his  kingdom,  solicited  the  assis- 
tance of  the  King  of  England,  Henry  II.,  who,  it  will  be  recol- 
lected, was  great  grandson  of  William  the  Conqueror.  Already 
the  proximity  of  the  two  Islands,  must  not  unfrequently  have  sug- 
gested the  likelihood  of  an  invasion  at  no  distant  time,  from  the 
shores  of  the  larger  and  more  powerful.  Up  to  this  period,  the  tide 
of  incursion  appears  to  have  been  entirely  from  the  Irish  side  of 
Channel.  On  the  other  hand  it  appears  certain  that  William  the 
Conqueror,  and  his  sons  who  succeeded  him  on  the  English  throne, 
William  Rufus,  and  Henry  I.  entertained  serious  thoughts  of  adding 
Ireland  to  their  dominions,  extending  the  Norman  conquest  over 
both  Islands.  William  Rufus,  in  one  of  his  expeditions  against  the 
Welsh,  is  reported  to  have  said,  as  he  stood  on  the  rocks  of  St. 
David’s  and  looked  at  the  Irish  hills,  that  he  would  “ make  a bridge 
with  his  ships  from  that  spot  to  Ireland.” 

Occupied,  previous  to  the  reign  of  Henry  II.,  with  repelling  the 
inroads  of  the  Scots,  and  attempts  to  reduce  them  under  their  do- 
minion, with  defending  and  enlarging  their  possessions  in  France, 
and  with  repressing  domestic  animosities,  the  Norman  sovereigns  of 
England  had  delayed  the  invasion  of  Ireland  for  about  a century. 
The  proximity  of  its  situation  to  England,  and  the  fertility  of  its 
soil,  were  not  overlooked  by  them,  and  they  were  doubtless  fully 


IRELAND  DIVIDED  AMONG  THE  ENGLISH. 


11 


his  English  subjects  settling  in  Ireland,  the  continued  enjoyment  of 
the  laws  and  usages  of  that  country  from  which  they  had  sprung. 

In  all  the  laws  and  ordinances  enacted  by  Henry,  during  his  brief 
stay  in  Ireland,  for  the  foundation  and  future  government  of  the  new 
settlement,  he  was  guided  wholly  by  the  spirit  and  principles  of  the 
feudal  polity,  according  to  which,  the  great  body  of  the  English 
laws  was  at  that  time  modelled.  Thus  the  estates  and  dignities, 
conferred  by  him  upon  his  officers,  were  granted  in  consideration  of 
homage  and  fealty,  and  of  military  or  honorary  services,  to  be  ren- 
dered to  himself  and  his  heirs. 

All  Ireland  was  very  coolly  divided  by  Henry,  among  ten  of  his 
English  noblemen  and  chiefs,  viz : Earl  Strongbow,  Robert  Fitz 
Stephens,  Miles  De  Cogan,  Philip  Bruce,  Sir  Hugh  De  Lacy,  Sir  John 
De  Courcy,  William  Burke  Fitz  Aldelm,  Sir  Thomas  De  Clare, 
Otho  De  Grandison,  and  Robert  Le  Poer  ; and  although  they  had 
not  gained  possession  of  one  third  part  of  the  kingdom,  yet  in  title 
they  were  owners  and  lords  of  all,  leaving  nothing  to  be  granted  to 
the  natives.  Henry  afterwards  granted  a special  charter,  conceding 
the  right  of  property  and  English  laws  to  five  Irish  families,  viz 
the  Q’JN'ials  of  Ulster,  the  O’Melachlins  of  Meath,  the  O’Connors 
of  Connaught,  the  O’Briens  of  Thomond,  and  the  MacMorroughs 
of  Leinster.  He  also  granted  a charter  to  the  Danes  of  Waterford. 

The  King  was  compelled,  by  pressing  circumstances,  to  return  to 
England  in  April,  1172,  and  “we  cannot  but  regret  (says  Moore,) 
that  he  was  so  soon  interrupted  in  the  task  of  providing  for  the  fu- 
ture settlement  and  government  of  Ireland  ; as  there  can  hardly  be 
a doubt  that,  at  such  a crisis,  when  so  much  was  to  be  instituted  and 
originated,  on  which  not  only  the  well-being  of  the  new  colony 
itself,  but  also  of  its  acceptance  with  the  mass  of  the  natives,  would 
depend,  the  direct  and  continuous  application  of  a mind  like  Henry’s 
to  the  task,  would  have  presented  the  best,  if  not  perhaps  sole 
chance  of  an  ultimately  prosperous  result,  which  a work  in  any 
hands  so  delicate  and  difficult,  could  have  been  expected  to  afford. 
This  chance,  unluckily,  the  necessity  of  his  immediate  departure,, 
forever  foreclosed.  His  prodigal  grants  to  his  English  followers  and 
their  creatures,  had  established  in  the  land  an  oligarchy  of  enriched 
upstarts,  who  could  not  prove  otherwise  than  a scourge  and  curse 
to  the  doomed  people  whom  he  now  delivered  into  their  hands.” 


12 


KING  RODERIC  SUBMITS  TO  HENRY  II. 


The  military  leaders  left  to  rule  over  the  country,  managed  their 
trust  so  ill,  that  the  Irish  never  became  peaceable  subjects  of  the  Nor- 
man Kings,  as  the  English  had  gradually  done. 

Henry  appointed  Strongbow  Governor  of  Ireland.  As  but  few 
English  soldiers  were  left  by  the  King,  the  Irish  Chiefs  soon  refus- 
ed to  cont  inue  their  allegiance,  and  Roderic  O’Connor.  King  of  Con- 
naught. endeavored  to  retrieve  the  independence  of  his  country  ; 
but  after  several  engagements,  he  was  completely  subdued.  Fitz 
Aldelm,  who  succeeded  Strongbow  as  Governor,  by  his  imprudent 
conduct,  threw  every  thing  into  confusion.  De  Lacy,  who  was  ap- 
pointed to  supercede  him,  might  have  restored  tranquility,  but  John, 
the  youngest  son  of  the  English  King,  being  appointed  Lord  of  Ire- 
land. by  his  weak  and  peurile  conduct,  soon  induced  the  natives  to 
revolt  against  the  English  power.  This  revolt,  with  considerable 
difficulty,  was  quelled  by  De  Courcy. 

After  the  defeat  of  Roderic,  King  of  Connaught,  he  sent  an  em- 
bassy of  three  dignitaries  of  the  Church,  to  England',' to  negotiate  a 
treaty  of  submission  with  the  King  of  England.  By  this  treaty, 
Henry  granted  to  his  liegeman,  Roderic,  that  as  long  as  he  continued 
faithfully  to  serve  him,  he  should  be  a King  under  him,  ready  to  do 
him  service  as  his  vassal,  and  that  he  should  hold  his  hereditary 
territories  as  firmly  and  peaceably  as  he  had  held  them  before  the 
coming  of  Henry  into  Ireland.  The  annual  tribute  demanded  of 
Roderic  and  the  Irish  at  large,  was  a merchantable  hide  for  every 
tenth  head  of  cattle  killed  in  Ireland.  In  any  of  those  districts  im- 
mediately under  the  dominion  of  the  King  of  England,  Roderic  was 
not  allowed  to  interfere,  or  ro  claim  any  authority  whatsoever.  In 
this  exempted  English  territory,  which  formed  what  was  afterwards 
called  the  Pale,”  were  comprised  Dublin  and  all  its  appurtenan- 
ces ; the  whole  of  Meath  and  Leinster,  besides  Waterford  and  the 
country  from  thence  to  Dungarvon. 

By  this  compact  it  was  solemnly  determined  that,  in  all  future 
time,  the  Kings  of  England  should  be  Lords  paramount  of  Ire- 
land ; that  the  fee  of  the  soil  should  be  in  them,  and  that  all  future 
monarchs  of  Ireland,  should  hold  their  dominion  but  as  tenants  in 
capite,  or  vassals  of  the  English  Crown. 


13 


CHAPTER  II. 

CONDITION  OF  THE  IRISH  PEOPLE  PREVIOUS  TO  THE  ENGLISH 

CONQUEST. 


The  reciprocal  relations  of  chief  and  vassal,  which  arose  natu- 
rally out  of  military  service,  and  furnished  one  of  the  two  great 
principles  on  which  the  feudal  system  was  founded,  had  already, 
with  its  exactions  of  homage  and  fealty,  formed  a part  of  the  polity 
of  the  Irish.  Familiarized,  therefore,  as  had  been  their  Princes 
and  Chieftains,  to  the  custom  of  holding  their  territories  from  supe- 
rior lords,  on  condition  of  allegiance  and  homage,  there  was  to 
them  nothing  novel  or  startling  in  the  new  forms  as  they  deemed 
them,  of  submission,  by  which  Roderic  now  laid  the  lordship  of  Ire- 
land at  the  feet  of  an  English  King.  But  though  thus  acquainted, 
as  were,  indeed,  most  of  what  are  called  the  barbarous  nations,  with 
that  part  of  the  policy  of  the  feudal  system,  which  regulated  the 
military  relations  between  chief  and  vassal,  they  were  wholly  igno- 
rant of  its  other  more  important  principle,  which  made  property  the 
foundation  of  this  mutual  tie,  and  bound  together  lord  and  tenant 
by  reciprocal  obligations  of  protection  and  service.  It  is  not  im- 
probable, therefore,  that  the  general  readiness  of  the  Irish  Princes, 
to  tender  their  allegiance  to  Henry,  arose  from  their  habit  of  view- 
ing this  ceremony  but  as  a pledge  of  military  service,  and  their  en- 
tire ignorance  of  the  important  and  prominent  change,  which,  in  the 
eyes  of  Henry’s  lawyers,  would  be  effected  in  their  right  and  title  to 
their  respective  territories  by  that  ceremony. 

The  Irish  law  of  Gavelkind , difFered  materially  from  the  law  so 
denominated  in  Kent,  England.  When  any  one  died,  according  to 
the  old  Irish  law,  all  the  possessions,  real  and  personal,  of  the  whole 
family,  were  put  together,  or  thrown  into  hotch-potch,  and  divided 
anew  among  the  survivors,  by  the  head  of  the  family,  whom  they 
termed  the  Cean  Finne  or  Caunfinny ; natural  sons  were  admitted 
into  this  distribution,  though  all  females,  wives,  daughters,  and  oth- 
ers, were  excluded  from  it.  The  division  extended  to  the  whole 
sept  or  clan,  by  which  means,  many  vested  freeholds  came  upon 


14 


FORMER  CONDITION  OF  THE  PEOPLE, 


such  new  partitions,  to  be  divested  during  the  lives  of  the  tenants. 
This  law  or  custom,  was  productive  of  one  of  the  most  pernicious 
prejudices  that  can  pervade  the  useful  part  of  a community ; it  pre- 
vented whole  septs  or  families,  however  numerous  and  needy,  from 
learning  any  trade,  or  turning  mechanics,  because  they  would  be 
thus  degraded,  and  the  Caunfinny  would,  in  any  future  partition,  ex- 
clude such  as  had  debased  themselves  by  such  abdication  of  their 
family  dignity. 

The  national  division  into  septs  or  tribes,  though  natural  to  infant 
communities,  was  attended,  in  the  progress  of  population,  with  the 
worst  of  consequences  ; and  these  were  entailed  upon  the  nation  by 
the  laws  of  Tanistry  and  Gavelkind  ; the  latter  we  have  just  de- 
scribed, and  by  the  former,  successors  were  chosen  during  the  lives 
of  their  predecessors,  not  only  to  their  Kings,  but  also  to  their  great 
state  and  other  officers,  within  a given  line  of  hereditary  descent. 

From  the  earliest  times,  Ireland  was  divided  into  a certain  num- 
ber of  small  principalities,  each  governed  by  its  own  petty  King  or 
Dynast,  and  the  whole  subordinate  to  a supreme  Monarch,  who  had 
nominally,  but  seldom  really,  a control  over  their  proceedings. 
This  form  of  polity,  which  continued  to  be  maintained,  without 
any  essential  innovation  upon  its  principle,  down  to  the  conquest  of 
the  country  by  Henry  II.,  (as  we  have  before  mentioned,)  was  by  no 
means  peculiar  to  Ireland,*  but  was  the  system  common  to  the 
whole  Celtic  race,  if  not  also  to  the  Teutonic,  and  like  all  the  other 
primitive  institutions  of  Europe,  had  its  origin  in  the  East.  In  no 
other  country,  however,  do  the  title  and  power  of  royalty  appear  to 
have  been  partitioned  out  into  such  minute  divisions  and  sub-divi- 
sions, as  in  the  provincial  government  of  Ireland. 

As  in  all  communities,  property  is  the  pervading  cement  of  socie- 
ty, a state  of  things  such  as  has  been  just  described,  in  which  its 
tenure  was  kept  from  day  to  day,  uncertain,  and  its  relations  con- 
stantly disturbed,  was  perhaps  the  least  favorable  that  the  most  per- 
verted ingenuity  could  have  devised,  for  either  the  encouragement 
of  civilization,  or  the  maintenance  of  peace.  Had  there  been  any 
certainty  in  the  tenure  of  the  property,  when  once  divided,  most  of 
the  evils  attending  the  practice,  might  have  been  escaped.  But  the 
new  partition  of  all  the  lands,  whenever  a death  occurred  in  the  sept 

* During  the  Saxon  Heptarchy,  the  Island  of  Great  Britain  contained  about  fifteen  king" 
doms— Saxons,  British,  and  Scotch. 


ANCIENT  LAWS  AND  CUSTOMS. 


15 


or  tribe,  and  the  frequent  removal  of  the  inferior  tenants,  from  one 
portion  to  another,  produced  such  uncertainty  in  the  tenure  of  all 
possesions,  as  made  men  reckless  of  the  future,  and  completely  pal- 
sied every  aim  of  honest  industry  and  enterprise.  By  the  habits  of 
idleness  they  engendered,  the  minds  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people, 
were  left  vacant  and  useless,  to  seek  employment  for  themselves  in 
mischief,  and  follow  those  impulses  of  wild  and  ungoverned  pas< 
sion,  of  which  their  natures  were  so  susceptible. 

Another  evil  of  the  social  system,  under  such  laws,  was  the  false 
pride  that  could  not  fail  to  be  engendered  by  that  sort  of  mock  king- 
ship,  that  mimic  sovereignty,  which  pervaded  the  whole  descending 
scale  of  their  grandees,  down  to  the  Ruler  of  a small  Rath , or  even 
the  possessor  of  a few  acres,  who,  as  Sir  John  Davies  says,  “ termed 
himself  a lord,  and  his  portion  of  land  his  country.”  The  lowest 
of  these  petty  Potentates,  considered  it  degrading  to  follow  any  trade 
or  calling,  and  of  course,  were  generally  ready  for  domestic  faction 
and  fierce  civil  broils.  Nor  was  it  only  by  the  relative  position  of 
the  different  classes  of  the  country,  but  by  that  also  of  the  different 
races  which  inhabited  it,  that  the  aliment  of  this  false  pride  was  so 
abundantly  administered.  Leaving  to  the  descendants  of  the  Bel- 
gians and  other  early  colonists,  only  the  mechanical  and  servile  occu- 
pations, the  Milesian  or  dominant  caste,  who  claimed  to  be  masters 
over  these  and  the  mass  of  the  population,  reserved  to  themselves 
such  employments  as  would  not  degrade  their  high  original. 

From  that  persevering  adherence,  (says  Moore,)  to  old  customs, 
habits,  and  by  natural  consequence,  dispositions,  which  has  ever  dis- 
tinguished the  Irish  people,  the  same  peculiarities  of  character  that 
mark  any  one  part  of  their  country’s  history,  will  be  found  to  per- 
vade every  other  : insomuch,  that  allowing  only  for  that  degree  of 
advancement  in  the  arts  and  luxuries  of  life,  which  in  the  course  of 
time  could  not  but  take  place,  it  may  be  asserted  that  such  as  the 
Irish  were  in  the  early  ages  of  their  pentarchy.  they  have  remained 
to  the  present  day. 

The  political  and  civil  state  of  the  people  as  above  described,  ap- 
plies to  them  both  before  and  after  the  introduction  of  Christianity, 
until  the  changes  brought  about  by  the  English  conquest,  under 
Henry  II. 

In  all  probability,  the  elements  of  what  is  called  the  feudal  sys- 
tem, had  existed  in  Ireland,  as  well  as  in  Britain  and  Gaul,  many 


16 


FEUDAL  SYSTEM — SLAVERY. 


ages  before  even  the  oldest  dates  usually  assigned  to  the  first  intro- 
duction of  feudal  law  into  Europe  ; being  traceable  perhaps,  even 
to  the  landing  of  the  first  colonists  on  these  shores,  when,  in  parcel- 
ling out  their  new  territory,  and  providing  for  its  defence,  there 
would  naturally  be  established,  between  the  leaders  and  followers  in 
such  an  enterprise,  those  relations  of  fealty  and  protection,  of  ser- 
vice and  reward,  which  the  common  object  they  were  alike  engaged 
in,  would  necessarily  call  forth,  and  in  which  the  principle  and  the 
rudiments  of  the  feudal  policy  would  be  found.  It  has  been  shown 
by  Montesquieu,  from  the  law  of  the  Burgundians,  that  when  that 
Vandalian  nation  first  entered  Gaul,  they  found  the  tenure  of  land  by 
service,  already  existing  among  the  people. 

Slavery,  from  a very  early  period,  existed  among  the  Irish. 
Slaves  were  exported  from  England  in  such  numbers,  that  it  seems 
to  have  been  a fashion  among  the  people  of  property  in  Ireland, 
and  other  neighboring  countries,  to  be  attended  by  English  slaves. 
Wherever  the  practice,  indeed,  of  piracy,  whether  in  ancient  or 
modern  times,  has  prevailed,  there  the  traffic  in  human  flesh,  as 
an  ordinary  article  of  commerce,  has  also  existed,  and  it  was  in  the 
course  of  a predatory  expedition  of  Nial  of  the  Nine  Hostages  to  the 
coast  of  Gaul,  in  A.  D.  403,  that  St.  Patrick,  then  a youth,  was 
carried  away  and  sold  as  a bond  slave  in  Ireland.  Besides  the 
slaves  imported  from  England,  the  Irish  had  also  a class  of  bond- 
men,  called  Villeins , which  were  regardant,  as  the  law  expresses  it, 
to  the  manor,  and  esteemed  a part  of  the  inheritance  or  farm. 

About  the  period  of  the  English  invasion,  1170,  a Synod  con- 
vened at  Armagh,  to  take  into  consideration  the  perilous  state  of 
the  country.  Concluding  that  the  sins  and  offences  of  the  people 
were  the  great  cause  of  the  calamities  that  threatened  them,  they 
resolved  to  seek  in  some  general  and  national  act  of  repentance,  the 
means  of  propitiation  and  self-relief.  Acting  upon  the  spirit  of 
Christian  views,  the  Synod  unanimously  decreed  and  ordered  that 
all  the  English  throughout  the  Island,  who  were  in  a state  of 
slavery,  should  be  restored  to  their  former  freedom. 

In  speculating  upon  the  aspect  of  Irish  history  at  any  period 
whatsoever,  full  allowance  is  to  be  made  for  those  anomalies  which 
so  often  occur  in  the  course  of  affairs  in  that  country,  and  which  in 
many  instances  baffle  all  such  calculations  respecting  its  real  con- 
dition, as  are  founded  on  those  ordinary  rules  and  principles  by 


VIEWS  OF  IRISH  CHARACTER, 


17 


which  other  countries  are  judged.  Those  old  laws  and  customs  of 
the  land,  so  ruinous,  as  we  have  seen,  to  peace  and  industry,  could 
not  have  been  otherwise  than  fatal  to  the  progress  of  civilization  ; 
nor  can  any  one  who  follows  the  dark  and  turbid  course  of  Irish 
history,  through  the  unvaried  scenes  of  rapine  and  turbulence, 
which  it  traverses,  suppose  for  an  instant  that  any  high  degree  of 
general  civilization  could  co-exist  with  habits  and  practices  so 
utterly  subversive  of  all  the  elements  of  civilized  life.  The  picture 
of  the  state  of  civilization  among  the  Irish,  in  early  times,  is  made 
up  of  direct  contrasts,  and  there  is  not  a feature  in  their  ancient 
history  indicative  of  an  advance  in  social  refinement,  that  is  not 
counteracted  by  some  other,  stamped  with  the  strong  impress  of 
barbarism.  It  is  only  by  compounding  these  two  opposite  extremes, 
that  a just  medium  can  be  attained,  and  that  the  true,  or  at  least 
probable  state  of  the  case,  can  be  collected  from  such  evidence. 
Even  in  the  days  of  Ireland’s  Christian  fame,  when  amidst  the 
darkness  which  hung  over  the  rest  of  Europe,  she  stood  as  a light 
to  the  nations,  and  sent  Apostles  in  all  directions  from  her  shores, 
even  in  that  distinguished  period  of  her  history,  we  shall  find  the 
same  contrasts,  the  same  contrarieties  of  national  character  present- 
ing themselves. 

But  there  is  an  era  still  more  strongly  illustrative  of  this  view  of 
Irish  character,  and  at  the  same  time  recent  enough  to  be  within 
the  memory  of  numbers  still  alive.  That  it  is  possible  for  a state  of 
things  to  exist,  wherein  some  of  the  best  and  noblest  fruits  of  civili- 
zation may  be  displayed  in  one  portion  of  the  community,  while 
the  habitual  violences  of  barbarism  are  raging  in  another,  is  but  too 
strongly  proved  by  the  history  of  modern  Ireland,  during  the  last 
thirty  years  of  the  eighteenth  century,— a period  adorned  by  as 
high  and  shining  names  as  ever  graced  the  meridian  of  the  most 
favored  country,  and  yet  convulsed  by  a furious  struggle  between 
the  people  and  their  rulers,  maintained  on  both  sides,  with  a degree 
of  ferocity  worthy  of  uncivilized  life. 


18 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  CONSEQUENCES  OF  THE  ENGLISH  CONQUEST. 

Though,  by  the  treaty  between  the  two  Kings,  (Henry  and 
Roderic,)  acknowledging  Henry  to  be  lord  paramount  of  Ireland, 
the  sovereignty  over  that  Island,  was  transferred  to  the  English 
crown,  yet  in  point  of  real  power,  the  King  of  England  was  no 
further  advanced  by  it,  than  when,  a few  years  before,  he  had  set 
sail  from  the  Irish  shore  ; and  at  that  period,  as  a great  law  autho- 
rity, Sir  John  Davies,  has  declared,  he  left  behind  him  not  one  more 
true  subject  than  he  found  upon  his  arrival.  Within  the  same 
limited  sphere  of  dominion,  extending  not  more  than  one  third  of 
the  kingdom,  did  the  power  and  jurisdiction  of  the  English  crown 
continue  )to  be  circumscribed  for  centuries  after,  making  no  impres- 
sion whatever  on  the  laws,  language,  or  customs  of  the  great  mass 
of  the  natives,  but  remaining  an  isolated  colony,  in  the  midst  of  a 
hostile  and  ever  resisting  people. 

Had  Ireland  resisted  from  the  first,  her  invaders,  with  a spirit 
worthy  of  her  ancient  name,  and  had  she,  yielding  only  to  superior 
force,  been  at  last  effectually  brought  under,  then  indeed  might  the 
two  countries  have  had  to  record  a conquest  honorable  to  both  ; 
while  both  alike  would  have  been  spared  that  long  train  of  demo- 
ralizing consequences  which  arose  out  of  the  means,  as  rash  and 
violent  as  they  were  inefficient,  employed  to  bring  Ireland  under 
subjection.  Hence  the  confused  and  discordant  relations,  in  which 
the  two  races  inhabiting  her  shores,  necessarily  stood  towards  each 
other — the  one  assuming  the  rights  of  conquest,  without  any  power 
to  enforce  them  ; the  other  pretending  to  independence,  with  a for- 
eign intruder  in  the  very  heart  of  the  land ; while,  to  add  to  all  this 
confusion,  there  prevailed  in  the  country  two  codes  of  laws,  between 
whose  constantly  conflicting  ordinances,  the  wretched  people  were 
kept  distracted,  while  their  unprincipled  rulers  had  recourse,  indif- 
ferently, to  one  or  to  the  other,  according  as  it  suited  the  temporary 
purposes  of  spoliation  or  revenge. 

It  is  said  of  the  Norman  followers  of  William  the  Conqueror,  that 
they  despised  the  English  for  submitting  to  them  so  easily ; and 


THE  ENGLISH  CONQUEST  IMPERFECT. 


19 


such  was  evidently  the  feeling  awakened  in  their  Anglo  Norman 
descendants,  by  the  facility  with  which  the  Irish  gave  way  to  their 
first  encroachments.  But  as  soon  as  these  intruders  began  to  dis- 
cover that,  however  feebly  opposed  in  their  acquisition  of  the  spoil, 
they  were  not  left  a moment  of  peace  or  security  for  the  enjoyment 
of  it ; when  they  found  that  the  Irish  “ enemy”  (as  the  English 
called  them,)  as  if  to  atone  for  the  weak  submission  of  their  fore- 
fathers, neve^'  once  slumbered  in  the  task  of  harassing  the  despoil- 
er, and  render  the  throne  of  their  ruler  a seat  of  thorns  ; there  was 
then  added  to  the  haughty  contempt  they  had  before  felt  for  the  na- 
tives, a deep  and  inveterate  hatred,  and  how  far  both  these  feelings 
were  allowed  to  operate,  is  shown  in  the  History  of  the  Parliament 
of  the  English  Pale,  where  successive  enactments  against  the 
“ mere  Irish,”  exhibit  almost  every  form  of  insult  and  injury  that 
the  combined  bitterness  of  hatred  and  contempt  could  be  expected 
to  engender. 

With  respect  to  what  is  called  Henry’s  “ conquest”  of  this  coun- 
try ; how  far  that  able  Monarch  himself  was  from  claiming  the 
rights  of  a conqueror,  appears  from  the  spirit  and  terms  of  his  treaty 
with  the  Irish  King  Roderic  ; according  to  which,  but  two  of  the 
five  kingdoms  of  which  Ireland  consisted,  and  three  principal 
cities,  were  exempted  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  native  Monarch, 
while  in  all  the  other  parts  of  the  country,  the  ancient  authorities 
and  laws  remained  in  full  force ; the  Princes  appointed  their  own 
magistrates  and  officers,  retained  the  power  of  pardoning  and  pun- 
ishing malefactors,  and  made  war  or  peace  with  each  other,  accord- 
ing to  their  pleasure. 

In  the  same  Council  which  ratified  this  singular  treaty,  Henry 
exercised  his  first  act  of  authority  over  the  Irish  Church.  As  in 
the  subjection  of  England  to  the  Normans,  the  native  clergy  were 
found  to  be  useful  instruments,  so  in  those  parts  of  Ireland  beyond 
the  English  boundary,  the  influence  of  the  clergy  was  Henry’s  chief 
support.  Desirous  of  strengthening  this  interest,  he  now  appointed 
a native  of  Ireland,  named  Augustin,  to  the  Bishopric  of  Waterford, 
and  recognising  the  primatial  rights  of  Cashel,  sent  him  to  be  con- 
secrated by  the  Archbishop  of  that  See. 

That  part  of  Ireland  called  Ulster,  was  first  invaded  by  the  Eng- 
lish, under  De  Courcy,  who,  in  1177,  with  a small  force,  defeated 
the  natives  in  several  engagements.  In  the  same  year  the  Pope’s 


20 


CONTESTS  BETWEEN  THE  ENGLISH  AND  IRISH. 


legate,  Cardinal  Vivian,  although  he  had  advised  the  Prince  of 
Ulster  to  defend  his  territories  against  De  Courcy,  proceeded  to 
Dublin,  and  there  convoked  a general  Council  of  Bishops  and  Ab- 
bots, in  which,  setting  forth  the  right  of  dominion  over  Ireland,  con- 
ferred by  the  Pope  upon  Henry,  he  impressed  on  them  the  necessity 
of  paying  obedience  to  such  high  authority,  under  pain  of  excom- 
munication. He  also,  among  other  regulations  promulgated  at  this 
Council,  gave  leave  to  the  English  soldiers  to  provide  themselves 
with  victuals  for  their  expeditions,  out  of  the  Church,  into  which,  as 
inviolable  sanctuaries,  they  used  to  be  removed  by  the  natives ; 
merely  ordering,  that  for  the  provisions  thus  taken,  a reasonable 
price  should  be  paid  to  the  Rectors  of  the  Churches. 

Soon  after  the  dissolution  of  this  Council,  the  English  Governor, 
Fitz  Aldelm,  was  induced  to  send  an  expedition  into  Connaught,  in 
consequence  of  a quarrel  between  Roderic  O’Connor  and  his  son  ; 
the  latter  of  whom  invited  Fitz  Aldelm  to  make  war  upon  his  father, 
offering  himself,  to  conduct  into  Connaught,  the  army  destined 
to  this  service.  There  had  been,  it  appears,  no  violation  of  the 
treaty  between  Roderic]  and  Henry,  but  the  English  hoped  to  profit 
by  this  family  feud.  Fitz  Aldelm  accordingly  sent  a force  of 
about  500  men  across  the  Shannon,  but  they  were  attacked  by  Rod- 
eric O’Connor,  and  forced  to  retreat  to  Dublin,  with  considerable 
loss.  Roderic’s  son,  the  traitor  Murtagh,  was  taken  prisoner  ; and 
the  men  of  Connaught — not  one  of  whom  had  followed  his  example 
in  joining'the  English — delivered  him  up^into  the  hands  of  his 
father,  by  whom  he  was  punished  for  his  treason. 

To  a mind  acute,  as  was  that  of  Henry  II.,  it  must  have  become  at 
this  time  sufficiently  manifest,  that  out  of  such  crude  and  discordant 
materials  as  were  now  conflicting  in  Ireland,  neither  peace  nor  or- 
der were  likely  soon  to  rise  ; and  that  the  grasp  of  one  strong  and 
steady  hand,  acting  with  immediate,  not  deputed  power,  and  coercing 
all  parties  alike  into  obedience  and  observance  of  justice,  presented 
the  sole  means  of  hope  that  human  policy  could  suggest,  for  the  re- 
duction of  so  crude  and  complicated  a chaos  into  order.  Fated  as 
Ireland  was  by  her  position,  and  even  still  more  by  the  feuds  pre- 
vailing among  her  own  people,  to  become  subject  to  foreign  domin- 
ion, the  presence,  for  a few  years,  of  a ruler  like  Henry  in  the  land, 
with  an  army  large  enough  to  render  resistance  hopeless,  would,  by 
lending  to  the  new  institutions  introduced  by  him,  at  once  enforce- 


HENRY  APPOINTS  JOHN,  LORD  OF  IRELAND.  21 

ment  and  superintendence,  have  secured  both  their  reception  by  the 
country,  and  their  adaptation  to  its  peculiar  habits  and  wants  ; and 
in  this  manner,  perhaps  the  euthanasia  of  Ireland’s  independence, 
might  with  advantage  and  honor  to  both  countries,  have  been  effect- 
ed.  At  all  events,  the  world  would,  in  that  case,  have  been  spared 
the  anomalous  spectacle  that  has  been,  ever  since,  presented  by  the 
two  nations  ; the  one  subjected,  without  being  subdued  ; the  other 
rulers,  but  not  masters  ; the  one  doomed  to  all  that  is  tumultuous  in 
independence,  without  its  freedom ; the  other  endued  with  every 
attribute  of  despotism,  except  its  power. 

It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  Henry  was  sufficiently  aware  of  the 
value  of  Ireland,  to  have  taken  more  pains  in  laying  the  founda- 
tions of  English  power  in  that  Kingdom,  had  the  cares  attendant  on 
so  vast  an  extent  of  dominion,  and  the  anxieties  caused  by  his  do- 
mestic troubles,  allowed  him  the  leisure  and  thought  requisite  for 
such  a task.  The  plan  which  occurred  to  him  about  this  time,  of 
investing  his  youngest  son,  John,  with  the  Lordship  of  Ireland,  is 
supposed  to  have  been  suggested  by  the  wish  to  supply,  as  far  as 
was  practicable,  the  want  of  the  royal  presence  and  sanction,  in 
the  administration  of  that  country's  affairs.  As  his  claim  to  the 
Kingdom  of  Ireland  had  originally  been  founded  on  a grant  from 
the  See  of  Rome,  to  the  same  source  he  now  thought  it  right  to  ap- 
ply for  approval  of  the  intended  investment  of  the  fee  and  power  in 
his  son.  Permission  was  accordingly  granted  to  him  by  the  Pope, 
Alexander  III.,  to  bestow  that  sovereignty  either  upon  John,  or  any 
other  of  his  sons  he  might  choose  ; and  also  to  reduce  to  complete 
obedience,  such  Chiefs  of  Ireland  as  might  prove  refractory. 

In  prosecution  of  this  object,  Henry,  in  May,  1177,  at  a Council 
of  Prelates  and  Barons  at  Oxford,  constituted  his  son  John,  King  of 
Ireland.  Notwithstanding  this,  however,  the  young  Prince  was 
never  afterwards,  it  appears  by  documents,  styled  otherwise  than 
Lord  of  Ireland,  and  Earl  of  Moreton.  In  conformity  with  this 
change  in  the  tenure  by  which  that  realm  was  held.  Henry  con- 
firmed his  grant  of  the  territory  of  Meath  to  Hugh  De  Lacy,  by  a 
new  charter,  besides  granting  large  sections  of  Ireland  to  other 
Barons  and  followers.  Besides  these  grants  from  the  crown,  there 
were  also  lands  parcelled  out  by  subinfeudation  from  the  several 
territories  by  which  a number  of  the  other  lords  engaged  in  these 
wars  were  amply  enriched  and  aggrandized.  Hugh  De  Lacy  was 


PRINCE  JOHN  IN  IRELAND. 


22 

appointed  the  successor  of  Fitz  Aldelm,  in  the  government  of  Ire- 
land, and  afterwards  married  the  daughter  of  Roderic,  King  of 
Connaught.  De  Lacy  was  popular,  both  with  the  English  settlers 
and  the  natives.  He  fortified  his  own  territory  of  Meath,  where  he 
erected  numerous  castles. 

In  the  year  1185,  Henry  sent  his  son  John,  whom  he  had  made 
Lord  of  Ireland,  to  rule  over  that  Kingdom.  This  Prince  was  then 
only  twelve  years  of  age,  and  he  was  accompanied  by  an  armed 
force  sufficient  to  have  established  the  English  power  over  the 
whole  Island.  The  conduct  of  John  and  his  adherents,  however, 
as  we  have  mentioned,  was  so  indiscreet  and  insulting  towards  the 
Irish  Chiefs  who  waited  on  him  to  welcome  and  acknowledge  him 
as  their  lord,  that  a spirit  of  revenge  and  resistance  was  awakened 
in  their  bosoms,  and  several  desperate  battles  between  the  English 
and  the  natives  were  the  consequence,  in  which  John  lost  almost  his 
whole  army.  At  length  informed  of  the  imminent  danger  with 
which  the  very  existence  of  his  power  in  that  realm  was  threatened, 
Henry  recalled  the  Prince  and  his  headlong  advisers  to  England, 
and  placed  the  whole  power  of  the  government,  both  civil  and 
military,  in  the  hands  of  De  Courcy.  The  death  of  De  Lacy  hap- 
pening in  the  following  year,  De  Courcy  was  left  to  encounter  the 
whole  brunt  of  the  Irish  struggle  almost  alone.  He  owed  the  suc- 
cess which  in  general  attended  his  arms,  far  less  to  his  own  and  his 
small  army’s  prowess,  than  to  the  feuds  and  divisions  which  dis- 
tracted the  multitudes  opposed  to  him. 

In  July,  1189,  the  career  of  the  English  Monarch,  Henry  II.,  was 
closed,  by  his  death  at  Chinon,  in  Normandy,  the  event  being  em- 
bittered, if  not  accelerated  by  his  discovery  of  the  base  treachery  and 
ingratitude  towards  him,  of  his  favorite  son,  John.  He  was  succeed- 
ed by  his  son  Richard  I.,  ( Coeur  de  Lion.)  The  period  of  Anglo- 
Irish  History  which  follows,  may  safely  be  hurried  over,  through 
more  than  one  century  of  its  course,  without  losing  much  that 
either  the  pen  or  the  memory  can  find  any  inducement  to  linger 
upon  or  record.  The  people  of  Ireland,  the  legitimate  masters  of 
the  soil,  disappear  almost  entirely  from  the  foreground  of  their 
country’s  history,  while  a small  colony  of  rapacious  foreigners 
stand  forth  usurpingly  in  their  place.  Expelled,  on  the  one  hand, 
as  enemies  and  rebels  from  their  rightful  possessions,  by  the  Eng- 
lish, and  repulsed  on  the  other  as  intruders,  by  the  native  septs  into 


PARLIAMENTS  AND  COUNCILS.  4 


23 


whose  lands  they  were  driven,  a large  proportion  of  the  wretched 
people,  thus  rendered  homeless  and  desperate,  were  forced  to  fight 
for  a spot  to  exist  upon,  even  in  their  own  land. 

To  second  the  sword  in  this  mode  of  governing,  the  weapon  of 
the  legislator  was  also  resorted  to,  and  proved  a still  more  inhuman, 
because  more  lingering,  visitation.  Giving  a name  to  its  own  work, 
the  Law  called  “ enemies,”  those  whom  its  injustice  had  made  so  ; 
and  for  the  first  time  in  the  annals  of  legislation,  a state  of  mutual 
hostility  was  recognised  as  the  established  relationship  between  the 
governing  and  the  governed. 


CHAPTER  IY. 

REIGNS  OP  RICHARD  I.,  JOHN,  AND  HENRY  III. 

The  kindly  feelings  of  Richard  I.,  towards  his  unworthy  brother 
John,  were  shown  not  more  in  the  favors  and  dignities  so  prodigally 
lavished  upon  him,  both  in  Normandy  and  England,  than  in  the 
easy  and  generous  confidence  with  which  he  still  left  him  in  unre- 
stricted possession  of  the  grant  of  the  Lordship  of  Ireland,  which 
had  been  bestowed  upon  him  by  the  late  King.  With  the  slight  ex- 
ception of  the  mention  of  Ireland,  among  those  parts  of  the  British 
dominions,  for  which  he  requested  a legate  to  be  appointed  by  Pope 
Clement  III.,  Richard  appears  not  to  have  at  all  interfered  with 
that  country  during  his  short,  chivalrous  reign. 

At  what  period  Parliaments,  properly  so  called,  began  to  be  held 
by  the  English  in  Ireland,  there  appear  no  means  of  ascertaining  ; 
but  it  is  the  opinion  of  Sir  John  Davies,  that  for  one  hundred  and 
forty  years  after  the  time  of  Henry  II.,  there  was  but  one  Parliament 
for  both  kingdoms,  and  that  the  Councils  held  occasionally,  by  the 
Lords  of  the  Pale,  during  that  interval,  were,  as  he  expresses  it, 
rather  Parlies  than  Parliaments.  Neither  were  the  interests  of  the 
English  settlement  left  wholly  unrepresented  during  that  period,  as 
we  learn  from  the  records  of  the  reigns  of  the  first  three  Edwards, 
that  Ireland  sent  representatives  to  the  English  Parliament  under 
all  those  Kings. 


24 


CONTESTS  WITH  THE  NATIVES. 


The  deputy  appointed  by  John  to  the  government  of  this  coun- 
try, on  the  accession  of  his  brother  Richard,  was  Hugh  De  Lacy, 
son  of  the  first  Lord  of  Meath  ; in  consequence  of  which,  John  De 
Courcy,  finding  himself,  as  he  thought,  unfairly  supplanted,  retired 
dissatisfied  to  his  own  possessions  in  Ulster,  and  there  assumed,  in 
the  midst  of  his  followers,  a tone  and  attitude  of  independence 
which  threatened  danger  to  the  English  interests  in  that  quarter. 
In  the  meanwhile  the  native  Princes,  encouraged  by  the  diversion 
to  the  service  of  the  Crusades  in  the  East,  under  Richard’s  banner, 
of  the  energies  and  resources  of  England,  began  to  form  plans  of 
combined  warfare  against  their  common  foe,  the  invaders.  During 
the  government  of  Marshall,  the  second  in  succession  to  De  Lacy, 
so  great  was  the  success  of  the  national  cause  under  their  Chiefs, 
that  in  spite  of  the  perfidy  which,  as  usual,  says  Moore,  found  its 
way  into  the  Irish  councils,  they  succeeded  in  reducing  several  of 
the  garrisons  in  Munster,  and  after  a siege,  compelled  Cork  itself  to 
surrender. 

The  last  of  the  Monarchs  of  Ireland,  Roderic  O’Connor,  died  in 
1198,  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-two.  During  ten  years  of  his 
life  he  reigned  over  Connaught  alone,  for  the  eighteen  following  he 
wielded  the  sceptre  of  all  Ireland,  and  finally  devoted  the  thirteen  re- 
maining years  of  his  existence,  to  monastic  seclusion  and  repentance. 

The  reign  of  King  John,  which,  in  the  hands  of  the  English 
historian,  presents  so  proud  and  stirring  an  example  of  resistance  to 
wrong,  exhibits  in  the  Irish  records,  but  a melancholy  picture  of 
slavery  and  suffering.  Some  brief  struggles  were  indeed  attempted 
in  the  course  of  this  reign,  by  the  natives ; but  while  fondly 
persuading  themselves  that,  in  these  efforts,  they  fought  in  their  own 
cause,  they  were  really  but  instruments  in  the  hands  of  some  rival 
English  Lords,  who,  by  exciting  and  assisting  the  native  Chieftains 
against  each  other,  divided  and  weakened  the  national  strength, 
and  thereby  advanced  their  own  violent  and  rapacious  views. 

On  the  death  of  the  Monarch,  Roderic  O’Connor,  his  two  sons 
broke  out  into  fierce  contention  for  the  right  of  succession,  and  each 
was  assisted  by  different  English  Barons.  The  result  was  that 
Carrach,  one  of  the  brothers,  was  slain,  and  the  other,  Cathal,  of  his 
own  free  will,  agreed  to  surrender  to  King  John,  two  parts  of  Con- 
naught, and  to  hold  the  third  from  him  in  vassalage,  paying  annually 
for  it  the  sum  of  one  hundred  marks. 


KING  JOHN  VISITS  IRELAND. 


25 


The  mischief  of  the  policy  pursued  by  Henry  II.,  in  deputing  to 
his  Anglo-Norman  Barons,  the  administration  of  Irish  possessions, 
was  exemplified  in  the  rivalry  and  quarrels  that  took  place  between 
them,  some  of  these  suddenly  enriched  aristocrats,  assuming  a state 
of  independence,  and  leaguing  with  the  native  Chiefs  in  their  local 
feuds. 

In  the  year  1210,  King  John,  with  a numerous  army,  visited 
Ireland.  The  display  of  this  force  was  sufficient  to  produce  a 
temporary  calm.  No  less  than  twenty  of  the  Irish  Princes  or 
Chiefs,  came  to  pay  homage  to  the  Monarch.  Not  finding  any 
enemy  to  encounter  his  mighty  force,  John  had  more  leisure  to 
attend  to  the  civil  condition  of  the  realm,  and  not  only  did  he  extend 
the  operation  of  the  laws  and  institutions  already  established,  but  he 
also  introduced  others  of  importance.  There  seems  little  doubt, 
that  to  him  is  to  be  attributed,  besides  other  useful  measures,  the 
division  of  such  parts  of  the  kingdom  as  were  in  his  possession, 
into  shires  and  counties,  after  the  manner  of  England,  and  that  the 
first  sterling  money  circulated  in  Ireland,  was  coined  under  his 
direction.  Having  thus  provided  for  the  better  administration  of  the 
affairs  of  the  kingdom,  the  King  returned  to  England. 

Throughout  the  remainder  of  this  Monarch’s  reign,  the  affairs  of 
Ireland  appear  to  have  continued  in  comparative  tranquillity.  As  in 
the  contentions  between  John  and  his  Barons  in  England,  the  people 
of  Ireland  had  taken  no  part,  so  neither  in  the  Charter  of  Liberties 
wrung  from  him  by  those  turbulent  nobles,  did  his  Irish  subjects 
enjoy  any  immediate  communion  or  share. 

HENRY  III. 

King  John  was  succeeded  in  the  year  1216,  by  his  son,  Henry 
III.,  who  was  but  ten  years  old  when  he  ascended  the  throne.  The 
Earl  of  Pembroke  was,  by  a general  Council  of  Barons,  appointed 
protector  of  the  realm,  and  guardian  of  the  young  King.  This 
nobleman,  having  married  the  daughter  and  heiress  of  Earl  Strong- 
bow,  on  him  devolved  the  Lordship  or  palatinate  of  Leinster,  in 
Ireland.  He  therefore  felt  a deep  interest  in  the  prosperity  of  the 
English  settlement  in  that  Island,  and  accordingly,  one  of  the  first 
measures  of  the  new  reign,  was  to  transmit  to  Ireland  a duplicate  of 
the  instrument,  by  which,  in  a grand  Council  held  at  Bristol,  Henry 
had  renewed  and  ratified  the  great  Charter  of  Liberty,  granted  by 


26 


QUARRELS  AMONG  THE  ENGLISH  BARONS. 


his  father.  This  copy  of  Magna  Charta , however,  differed  in 
some  respects  from  the  original,  granted  by  John  to  his  English  sub- 
jects, inasmuchas  it  was  drawn  up  under  the  advice  of  several 
noblemen  interested  in  the  soil  of  Ireland,  and  well  acquainted  with 
the  peculiar  laws  and  customs  of  the  land.  The  differences  between 
the  two  documents,  imply  a desire  to  accommodate  the  laws  of  the 
new  settlers  to  the  customs  and  usages  of  their  adopted  country  ; 
the  actual  people  of  Ireland  were  wholly  excluded  from  any  share 
in  the  laws  and  measures  by  which  their  own  country  was  to  be 
thus  disposed  of  and  governed.  Individual  exceptions,  indeed,  oc- 
cur so  early  as  the  time  of  King  John,  during  whose  reign  there 
appear  charters  of  English  laws  and  liberties,  to  such  of  the  natives 
as  thought  it  necessary  to  obtain  them.  John  and  his  immediate 
successors,  Henry  and  Edward,  endeavored,  each  of  them,  to  estab- 
lish a community  of  laws  among  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  country. 
But  the  foreign  Lords  of  the  land,  the  Anglo-Norman  Barons,  were 
opposed  invariably  to  this  wise  and  just  policy  ; and  succeeded  in 
establishing  for  it  a monstrous  system  of  outlawry  and  proscription, 
the  disturbing  effects  of  which  were  continued  down  from  age  to 
age,  nor  have  ceased  to  be  felt  or  execrated  even  to  the  present 
day. 

The  desire  of  plunder,  which  had  hitherto  united  the  English 
settlers  against  the  natives,  was  now,  by  a natural  process,  dividing 
the  enriched  English  among  themselves.  Numerous  quarrels  took 
place  between  the  Barons,  particularly  between  De  Lacy  and  the 
Earl  of  Pembroke,  in  the  course  of  which  the  counties  of  Leinster 
and  Meath  were  alternately  laid  waste.  Regarding  the  throne  as 
their  only  refuge  against  the  tyranny  of  the  Barons,  the  Irish  Cap- 
tains surrendered  to  the  King  of  England  their  ancient  principali- 
ties, and  received  back  a portion  by  royal  grant,  to  be  held  in  future 
by  them  as  tenants  of  the  crown  ; thus  making  a sacrifice  of  part 
of  their  hereditary  rights,  in  order  to  enjoy,  as  they  hoped,  more 
securely  what  remained.  The  fate  of  Connaught,  however,  held 
forth  but  scanty  encouragement  to  those  inclined  to  rely  on  such 
specious  compacts.  The  engagement  entered  into  by  King  John, 
assuring  to  Cathal,  the  son  of  Roderic  O’Connor,  the  safe  possession 
of  a third  part  of  Connaught,  on  the  condition  of  his  surrendering 
the  other  two  thirds  to  the  King,  was  now  violated  by  Henry  III., 
who  bestowed  upon  one  of  his  Barons,  Richard  De  Burgh,  the 


IRELAND  GRANTED  BY  HENRY  III.,  TO  HIS  SON.  27 

whole  of  that  province,  to  be  taken  possession  of  by  him,  after 
Cathal’s  death.  This  violation  of  public  faith,  was  resisted  by  the 
people  of  that  province,  who,  regardless  of  Henry’s  grant,  elected  a 
successor  to  Cathal,  as  chieftain  of  Connaught,  in  his  brother,  who 
was  succeeded  by  a son  of  Cathal. 

In  the  year  1254,  Henry  III.  made  a grant  to  his  son,  Prince 
Edward,  and  his  heirs,  forever,  of  the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  provided 
that  the  same  was  never  to  be  separated  from  the  English  Crown. 
There  is  reason  to  believe  that  Prince  Edward  once  visited  his  Irish 
dominions,  but  if  so,  nothing  of  importance  occurred. 

It  was  not  without  fierce  and  frequent  struggles  that  the  ancient 
proprietors  of  the  soil,  suffered  it  to  be  usurped  by  the  foreign 
Barons.  As  usual,  however,  the  dissention  of  the  natives  among 
themselves,  proved  the  safety  and  strength  of  the  common  enemy’s 
cause.  The  mutual  jealousy,  to  which  joint  success  so  frequently 
leads,  now  sprung  up  among  the  different  septs,  and  those  who  had 
joined  with  such  signal  success  against  the  English,  being  now 
disunited,  fell  powerless  before  them. 

The  remaining  years  of  this  reign,  continued  to  roll  on  in  the 
same  monotonous  course  of  fierce  but  ignoble  strife,  which  had 
darkened  its  records  from  the  commencement.  Scarcely  had  the 
swords  of  the  English  Lords  found  time  to  rest  from  their  wars 
with  the  Irish  Chiefs,  than  they  again  drew  them  in  deadly  conflict 
with  each  other. 

During  the  administration  of  Sir  James  Audley,  in  1270,  a more 
than  ordinary  effort  of  vigor  was  made  by  the  natives,  to  wreak 
vengeance  at  least  on  their  masters,  if  not  to  right  and  emancipate 
themselves.  Rising  up  in  arms  all  over  the  country,  they  burned, 
despoiled,  and  slaughtered  in  every  direction,  making  victims  both 
of  high  and  low.  The  Prince  of  Connaught  took  the  field  against 
Walter  De  Burgh,  Earl  of  Ulster,  and  putting  his  forces  to  route, 
killed  several  noblemen  and  knights.  Many  fortified  places,  also, 
were  destroyed. 

In  the  year  1272,  this  long  reign— one  of  the  longest  to  be  found 
in  the  English  annals — was  brought  to  a close,  and  Ireland 
furnishes  but  few  records  towards  the  history  of  a reign,  whose 
course  in  England  was  marked  by  events  so  pregnant  with  interest 
and  importance  ; events  which,  by  leading  to  a new  distribution  of 
political  power,  were  the  means  of  introducing  a third  estate  into  the 


28 


REIGN  OP  EDWARD  I. 


Constitution  of  the  English  Legislature.  It  is  somewhat  remarkable, 
too,  that  the  very  same  order  of  men,  the  fierce  and  haughty 
Barons,  who  laid  the  foundation  at  this  time,  in  Ireland,  of  a system 
of  provincial  despotism,  of  which  not  only  the  memory,  but  the 
vestiges  still  remain,  should  have  been  likewise,  by  the  strong  force 
of  circumstances,  made  subservient  to  the  future  establishment  of 
representative  government  and  free  institutions  in  England. 


CHAPTER  V. 

REIGN  OF  EDWARD  I. 

This  Prince  succeeded  Henry  III.,  in  the  year  1272  ; being  on 
his  return  from  a Crusade  to  Palestine,  at  the  death  of  his  father. 
There  had  now  elapsed  exactly  a century  from  the  time  of  the 
landing  of  Henry  II.;  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  pronounce  a 
severer  or  more  significant  comment  upon  the  policy  pursued  by  the 
rulers  of  Ireland,  during  that  period,  than  is  found  in  a petition 
addressed  to  King  Edward,  in  an  early  part  of  his  reign,  praying 
that  he  would  extend  to  the  Irish  the  benefit  of  the  laws  and  usages 
of  England. 

It  was  the  wise  boast  of  the  Romans,  that  their  enemies,  on  the 
day  they  were  conquered,  became  their  fellow-citizens.  Far  differ- 
ent was  the  policy  adopted  by  the  rude  Barons  and  rulers  of  the 
English  colony,  who,  seeing  no  safety  for  their  own  abused  power, 
but  in  the  weakness  of  those  subjected  to  them,  took  counsel  of  their 
fears,  and  never  relaxing  the  insecure  hold,  continued  through  ages 
to  keep  the  Irish  in  the  very  same  hostile  and  alien  state  in  which 
they  found  them. 

The  reign  of  Edward  I.,  which  forms  so  eventful  a portion  of 
England’s  history,  and  combines  in  its  course  so  rare  and  remark- 
able a mixture  of  the  brilliant  and  the  solid,  the  glorious  and  useful, 
presents,  as  viewed  through  the  meagre  records  of  Ireland,  a barren 
and  melancholy  waste — unenlivened  even  by  those  fiery  outbreaks 
of  revenge,  which  at  most  other  periods,  flash  out  from  time  to  time, 


THE  IRISH  PETITION  FOR  ENGLISH  LAWS. 


29 


lighting  up  fearfully  the  scene  of  suffering  and  strife.  In  the  first 
year,  indeed,  of  this  reign,  before  the  return  of  Edward  from  Pal- 
estine, advantage  was  taken  of  his  absence,  by  the  natives,  to  make 
a sudden  and  desperate  effort  for  their  own  deliverance.  The 
castles  of  Roscommon,  Aldleck,  and  Sligo  were  attacked  and  dis- 
mantled or  destroyed,  and  the  Lord  Justice,  Fitz  Maurice,  was 
seized  and  cast  into  prison.  Soon  after,  the  Scots  made  a sudden 
incursion  into  Ireland,  and  committing  the  most  cruel  murders  and 
depredations,  escaped  into  Scotland  with  their  booty,  before  the 
inhabitants  had  time  to  rally  in  their  defence.  In  return,  a con- 
siderable force  from  Ireland,  under  two  Anglo-Norman  Barons, 
Richard  De  Burgh,  and  Sir  Eustice  De  Poer,  invaded  the  Highlands 
and  Scottish  Isles,  spreading  desolation  wherever  they  went,  and 
putting  to  death  all  whom  they  could  find. 

In  the  five  or  six  following  years,  Ireland  was  distracted  by  a 
series  of  petty  wars,  in  which  not  only  EnglislTfought  with  Irish, 
but  the  Irish,  assisted  by  the  arms  of  the  foreigner,  fought  no  less 
bitter  against  their  own  countrymen.  Thus,  in  the  year  1277,  in  a 
battle  between  the  King  of  Connaught,  and  the  Chief  of  the  Mac- 
Dermots  of  Moy-Lurg,  the  army  of  Connaught  was  utterly  defeated, 
with  the  loss  of  two  thousand  men,  and  the  King  himself  slain. 
It  was  with  reference  to  this  battle,  that  the  Lord  Justice,  Robert 
De  Ufford,  when  called  to  account  by  King  Edward,  for  permitting 
such  disorders,  replied  shrewdly,  “ that  he  thought  it  not  amiss  to 
let  rebels  murder  one  another,  as  it  would  save  the  King’s  coffers, 
and  purchase  peace  for  the  land.” 

The  petition  addressed  to  the  King  by  the  natives,  praying  for 
the  privileges  of  English  law,  not  having  been  yet  taken  into 
consideration  by  the  Barons,  Edward,  in  the  year  1280,  called  upon 
the  Lords  spiritual  and  temporal,  as  well  as  the  whole  body  of 
English  subjects  in  “ the  land  of  Ireland,”  (as  the  district  occupied 
by  the  English,  within  the  Pale , was  called  for  some  centuries,)  to 
assemble  and  deliberate  upon  that  prayer.  Intimating  clearly  the 
views  he  himself  entertained  on  the  subject,  he  yet  declares,  that 
without  the  concurrence  of  at  least  the  prelates  and  nobles  of  the 
land,  he  should  not  feel  justified  in  granting  the  desired  boon. 

As  the  Crown,  in  those  times,  required  to  be  bribed  into  justice, 
the  petitioners  did  not  forget  that  necessary  consideration,  but  offered 
to  pay  into  the  King’s  treasury  eight  thousand  marks,  on  condition 


30 


FIRST  ANGLO-IRISH  PARLIAMENT. 


that  he  would  grant  their  request  • and  the  King,  in  his  reply  to  the 
Lord  Justice,  begins  by  mentioning — what  was  with  him,  doubtless, 
not  the  least  interesting  part  of  the  transaction — this  tender  of  a sum 
of  money  ; one  of  the  most  pressing  objects  of  his  policy  being  to 
raise  supplies  for  the  constant  foreign  and  internal  warfare  in  which 
he  was  engaged.  He  then  proceeds,  in  this  letter,  to  say  that, 
inasmuch  as  the  laws  used  by  the  Irish  were  hateful  in  the  sight  of 
God,  and  so  utterly  at  variance  with  justice,  as  not  to  deserve  to  be 
regarded  as  laws,  he  had  considered  the  question  deliberately,  with 
the  aid  of  his  council,  and  it  had  appeared  to  them  sufficiently 
expedient,  to  grant  to  the  people  the  English  laws  ; provided  that 
the  common  consent  of  the  English  settlers,  or  at  least  of  their  well 
disposed  prelates  and  nobles,  should  lend  sanction  to  such  a 
measure. 

Thus  laudibly  anxious  was  this  great  Prince  to  settle  calmly  the 
question,  then  first  brought  into  discussion,  whether  the  Irish  were 
to  be  ruled  by  the  same  laws,  and  enjoy  the  same  rights  and 
privileges  as  the  English  ; a question  which,  under  various  forms 
and  phases,  has  remained,  essentially,  down  to  the  present  day,  in 
almost  the  same  state  in  which  Edward  then  found  and  left  it. 
Notwithstanding  the  urgent  terms  of  the  royal  mandate,  no  further 
step  appears  to  have  been  taken  on  this  important  subject,  either  by 
the  King  or  Barons. 

Meanwhile  the  entire  country  continued  to  be  convulsed  with 
constant  warfare,  not  only  of  Irish  with  English,  but  of  the  natives 
and  settlers  respectively  among  themselves,  and  the  long  standing 
feud  between  the  Geraldines  and  the  De  Burghs,  wTas,  owing  to  the 
power  of  the  great  families  enlisted  in  it,  prolonged  through  the 
greater  part  of  this  reign. 

The  reader  has  already  been  prepared,  on  entering  into  this  Anglo- 
Irish  period,  to  find  the  people  of  the  land  thrown  darkly  into  the 
back  ground  of  their  country’s  history,  while  a small  colony  of 
foreigners  and  their  descendants,  usurp  their  place.  It  is  only  in 
the  feuds  and  forays  of  the  English  Barons,  that  the  historian  can 
find  materials  for  his  task. 

At  length  an  attempt  was  made  during  the  government  of  Sir 
John  Wogan,  to  moderate  the  dissensions  of  these  lawless  Barons. 
A general  Parliament  was  accordingly  assembled  by  him,  in  the 
year  1295,  which,  though  insignificant  in  point  of  numbers,  passed 


ACTS  OP  THE  PARLIAMENT. 


31 


some  important  measures.  It  was  during  this  reign,  of  Edward  I., 
that  the  Parliament  of  England,  after  a long  series  of  progressive 
experiments,  was  moulded  into  its  present  shape  ; nor  did  a House 
of  Commons,  until  this  period,  form  a regular  and  essential  part  of 
the  English  Legislature.  In  Ireland,  where,  from  obvious  causes, 
the  materials  of  a third  estate  were  not  easily  to  be  found,  the 
growth  of  such  an  institution  would  be,  of  course,  proportionably 
slow ; and  the  Assemblies  held  there  during  this  reign,  and  for 
some  time  after,  though  usually  dignified  with  the  name  of  Parlia- 
ment, differed  but  little,  it  is  clear,  in  their  constitution,  from  those 
ancient  common  Councils,  at  which  only  the  nobles  and  ecclesiastics, 
together  with,  occasionally,  a few  tenants  in  capite , and  perhaps 
some  of  the  retainers  of  the  great  lords, 'were  expected  to  give  their 
attendance. 

Among  the  acts  passed  by  this  Parliament,  there  is  one,  ordaining 
a new  division  of  the  kingdom  into  counties.  Another  object  that 
engaged  their  attention,  was  the  defenceless  state  of  the  English 
territory,  and  the  harassing  incursions  of  the  natives  dwelling  upon 
its  borders,  and  as  this  was  owing  chiefly  to  the  absence  of  the 
Lords  marchers,  it  was  now  enacted  that  all  such  marchers  as 
neglected  to  maintain  their  necessary  wards,  should  forfeit  their 
lands.  It  was  ordained  that  all  absentees  should  assign,  out  of  their 
Irish  revenues,  a portion  for  the  maintenance  of  a military  force. 
To  check  the  forays  of  the  Barons,  a provision  was  made,  that  for 
the  future,  no  lord  should  wage  war,  but  by  license  of  the  chief 
Governor,  or  by  special  mandate  of  the  King.  With  a like  view  to 
curbing  the  power  of  the  great  lords,  every  person,  of  whatever 
degree,  was  forbidden  to  harbor  more  retainers  or  followers  than  he 
could  himself  maintain  ; and  for  all  exactions  and  violence,  of these 
idle  men,  or  kerns  (as  they  were  styled,)  their  lords  were  to  be 
made  answerable. 

To  this  Parliament  is  likewise  attributed  an  ordinance,  belonging 
really,  however,  to  a somewhat  later  period,  which,  in  reference  to 
the  tendency  already  manifested  by  the  English  to  conform  to  the 
customs  and  manners  of  the  natives,  ordains,  that  all  Englishmen 
should  still,  in  their  garb  and  the  cut  of  their  hair,  adhere  to  the 
fashion  of  their  own  country  ; that  whoever,  in  the  mode  of  wearing 
their  hair,  affected  to  appear  like  Irishmen,  should  be  treated  as 
such  ; that  their  lands  and  chattels  should  be  seized,  and  themselves 
imprisoned. 


32 


IRISH  TROOPS  SENT  TO  SCOTLAND. 


The  year  previous  to  the  meeting  of  this  Parliament,  viz : in 
1289,  a statute  was  passed  in  England,  entitled  “An  Ordinance  for 
the  State  of  Ireland,”  and  which  forms  part  of  the  evidence  adduced 
in  support  of  the  right,  which  has  been  questioned,  before  the  Union, 
of  the  Ena-lish  Parliament  to  bind  Ireland. 

Supplies  of  troops  were  sent  from  Ireland  at  different  intervals, 
to  the  aid  of  King  Edward  in  his  Scottish  wars  ; the  sort  of  warfare 
the  Irish  were  accustomed  to  among  their  own  lakes  and  mountains, 
rendering  them  a force  peculiarly  suited  to  the  war  in  Scotland. 
During  the  absence  of  Sir  John  Wogan,  the  Lord  Justice,  and  other 
English  Nobles,  in  the  expedition  to  Scotland,  rebellion  broke  out 
among  the  native  Irish,  but  on  the  return  of  Wogan,  a few  years  of 
unwonted  tranquility  ensued  ; owing  chiefly,  to  the  skill  and  firm- 
ness with  which  this  functionary  succeeded  in  keeping  down  the 
old  family  feud  between  the  De  Burghs  and  the  Geraldines. 

During  the  remaining  years  of  this  reign,  the  Irish  records  supply 
us  with  few  occurrences  worthy  of  notice.  On  the  renewal  of 
hostilities  in  Scotland,  the  King  was  again  assisted  by  troops  from 
Ireland,  under  English  Barons  and  Knights.  Several  contests,  in 
the  meantime,  took  place  between  the  English  and  natives  in 
Ireland,  and  at  the  hard  fought  battle  of  Glenfell,  in  1306,  Sir 
Thomas  Mandeville,  the  English  leader,  had  his  horse  killed  under 
him,  and  his  troops  thrown  into  confusion  ; but  at  length  succeeded, 
by  skilful  generalship,  in  retrieving  the  fortunes  of  the  day. 

Among  the  events  of  the  last  year  of  this  reign,  we  find  recorded 
the  murder  of  an  Irishman,  Murtogh  Balloch,  by  an  English 
Knight,  Sir  David  Canton,  or  Condon ; and  the  circumstances 
attending  the  act  must  have  been  of  no  ordinary  atrocity,  as,  by  a 
rare  act  of  justice,  in  such  cases,  the  English  Knight  was  hanged, 
in  Dublin,  for  this  murder,  in  the  second  year  of  the  following 
reign.  A rising  of  the  O’Keliys,  in  Connaught,  where  they 
surprised  and  slew  a number  of  English,  and  some  daring  efforts  of 
the  wild  mountaineers  of  Offaley,  who  destroyed  a castle  and  burnt 
the  town  of  Ley ; are  among  the  last  of  the  miserable  records  con- 
tributed by  Ireland  to  the  history  of  a reign,  whose  whole  course, 
as  traced  through  England’s  proud  annals,  presents  such  a series  of 
shining  achievements,  both  in  legislation  and  warfare,  as  no  period, 
perhaps,  of  the  same  duration,  in  the  history  of  any  other  country, 
ever  yet  equalled. 


33 


CHAPTER  YI. 


REIGN  OF  EDWARD  II. 

This  Prince  succeeded  his  father  in  1307,  being  in  the  23d  year 
of  his  age.  One  of  his  'first  acts  was  to  recall  his  favorite,  Pier 
Gaveston,  a native  of  Gascony,  in  France,  from  banishment ; a step 
which  his  father  on  his  death  bed,  had  forbidden,  under  pain  oi  his 
malediction.  Gaveston  being  unpopular  with  the  Barons,  they,  in 
Parliament,  demanded  his  expulsion  from  England.  The  King, 
however,  was  determined  to  uphold  his  iavorite,  and  advance  his 
fortunes.  To  the  surprise  and  mortification  of  the  nobles,  and  all 
who  had  expected  to  see  him  humbled,  it  was  discovered  that  Ireland 
was  the  chosen  place  of  his  banishment ; that  he  had  been  sent 
thither  as  the  King’s  Lieutenant,  and  went  loaded  with  the  royal 
jewels. 

During  the  short  period  of  his  administration,  there  was  no  want 
of  activity  in  the  new  Yiceroy,  as  he  was  almost  constantly  in  the 
field,  engaging  and  subduing  the  refractory  Chiefs,  and  enforcing 
obedience  to  the  English  power.  Among  the  benefits  resulting 
from  Gaveston’s  government,  is  mentioned,  the  attention  paid  by 
him  to  the  public  works  ; several  castles,  bridges,  and  causeways 
having  been  constructed  by  his  order.  As  the  King,  however, 
could  no  longer  endure  his  favorite’s  absence,  he  was  recalled  to 
England  in  1309,  the  Barons  giving  their  consent,  and  the  people 
absolving  him  from  his  late  vow,  never  to  return. 

The  successor  of  Gaveston,  at  the  head  of  the  government 
was  Sir  John  VYogan,  a gentleman  high  in  the  royal  favor,  who 
had  already  three  times  filled  the  office  of  Lord  Chief  Justice. 
Soon  after  his  arrival,  a Parliament  was  held  at  Kilkenny,  of  which 
the  enactments  are  still  preserved  ; and  among  them  are  some 
directed  against  the  gross  exactions  and  general  misconduct  of 
the  nobility. 

Still  farther  to  embroil  and  complicate  the  scenes  of  strife,  of 
which  Ireland  was  now  the  theatre,  each  of  the  contending  par- 
ties became  divided  into  fierce  factions  within  itself ; and  the  brief 
pauses  between  their  conflicts  with  each  other,  were  filled  up  with 


34  THE  CHIEFS  REFUSE  ALLEGIANCE  TO  HENRY  II. 

equally  rancorous  strife  among  themselves.  The  government  of 
the  kingdom,  between  the  Irish  enemies  on  one  side,  and  the  factious 
English  on  the  other,  was  called  upon,  constantly,  to  perform  a 
responsible  and  difficult  task. 

In  the  war  with  Scotland,  which  commenced  after  a truce  in  1309, 
the  mandate  of  the  King  of  England,  addressed  to  the  principal 
Irish  Chieftains,  for  their  aid,  met  with  no  responsive  obedience 
from  those  heirs  of  Ireland’s  ancient  Kings.  Even  the  slight  feudal 
link  by  which  King  John  had  attached  those  dynasts  to  the  English 
crown,  was  now  evidently  broken  assunder,  and  it  appears  that  not 
one  of  the  Chiefs  summoned,  had  ever  sworn  fealty  to  Edward. 

The  nature  of  the  policy,  indeed,  pursued  by  every  successive 
Governor— or  rather,  by  those  rulers  of  both  government  and 
people,  the  proud  and  rapacious  Anglo-Irish  Lords — had  been  such 
as  to  make  of  the  nation  they  ruled  over,  not  subjects,  but  bitter  and 
confirmed  foes.  Aware  that  the  restraints  of  legal  forms  would 
stand  in  the  way  of  their  own  unprincipled  projects,  they  refused  to 
the  natives  all  that  was  protective  in  the  law  ; while  employing 
against  them  all  its  worst  contrivances  of  mischief. 

That  a nation  thus  treated,  should  writhe  impatiently  under  the 
yoke,  and  greet  with  eagerness  the  faintest  prospect  of  deliverance, 
was  but  in  the  natural  course  of  manly  and  patriotic  feeling,  and 
the  noble  stand  made  by  the  Scots  for  their  national  independence, 
had  caused  a feeling  of  hope  and  sympathy  in  every  Irish  heart. 
Besides  motives  of  revenge  against  the  English,  there  was  also  to 
enlist  their  good  wishes  peculiarly  in  the  cause  of  the  Scots,  the 
sympathy  of  a kindred  people,  a common  lineage  and  language,  and 
the  similarity  still  preserved,  of  their  old  national  institutions.  In 
the  fortunes  of  Robert  Bruce,  a lively  interest  appears  to  have  been 
taken  by  the  Irish  at  an  early  period.  In  the  year  1306,  when 
forced  to  fly,  soon  after  his  coronation,  it  was  on  a small  island,  a 
few  miles  off  the  north  coast  of  Antrim,  Ireland,  that  he  found  a 
safe  place  of  refuge,  and  remained  concealed  during  the  winter, 
returning  to  Scotland  the  ensuing  spring.  The  strong  interest  then 
felt  in  the  adventures  of  the  heroic  Bruce,  became  elevated,  of 
course,  into  enthusiasm,  when  full  success  crowned  his  generous 
struggle ; and  the  glorious  victory  of  Bannockburn,  in  1314,  in 
ridding  Scotland  of  the  English  yoke,  opened  a vista,  also,  of  hope 
to  the  future  fortunes  of  oppressed  Ireland.  There  appeared,  at 
last,  a dawning  chance  of  her  deliverance  from  bondage. 


THE  SCOTS  INVADE  IRELAND. 


35 


While  actively  following  up  his  victory,  Bruce  was  waited  upon 
by  deputies  from  the  Irish,  placing  themselves  and  all  that  belonged 
to  them,  entirely  at  his  disposal,  and  praying  that,  if  he  himself, 
could  not  be  spared  from  his  royal  duties,  he  would  send  them  his 
brother  Edward  to  be  their  King  ; nor  suffer,  as  they  said,  a kindred 
nation  to  pine  in  bondage  beneath  the  tyranny  of  the  English. 
Besides  the  accession  of  power  and  territory  which  the  possession  of 
so  fine  a country  would  afford  him,  Bruce  saw  in  the  proposed 
enterprise,  a ready  vent  for  the  restless  ambition  of  his  brother,  who 
had  become  impatient  of  inferiority,  even  to  Robert  himself,  and 
already  laid  claim  to  an  equal  share  with  him  in  the  government  of 
the  Scottish  realm.  Robert  appears,  however,  to  have  fully  appre- 
ciated the  danger  and  difficulties  of  the  undertaking,  as  some  time 
elapsed  before  he  adopted  any  serious  steps  towards  its  accomplish- 
ment ; and  a few  attempts  by  his  people,  in  boats,  on  the  coast  of 
Ulster,  had  all  been  vigorously  repulsed. 

In  the  meanwhile,  Sir  Theobald  De  Vernon,  was  appointed  Lord 
Justice  of  Ireland  ; and  in  consequence  of  the  aspect  of  affairs,  the 
King  summoned  the  Anglo-Irish  Nobles,  to  repair  in  person,  to  the 
Parliament,  at  Westminster,  to  confer  with  the  King  and  his 
prelates  and  nobles,  concerning  the  state  and  peaceful  settlement 
of  that  realm.  Early  in  the  spring  of  1315,  Sir  Edmund  Butler, 
who  had,  in  the  interim,  been  made  Lord  Justice,  returned  : and  on 
the  25th  of  May,  Edward  Bruce,  with  a fleet  of  three  hundred  sail, 
appeared  off  the  north  coast  of  Antrim,  and  landed  at  Larne,  an 
army  of  six  thousand  men.  Being  joined  by  immense  numbers  of 
the  Irish,  their  united  force  overran  Ulster,  striking  terror  by  the 
havoc  and  ruin  that  marked  every  step  of  their  course.  Whether 
taken  by  surprise,  or  distracted  by  personal  feuds,  the  English  lords 
made  no  adequate  effort  to  meet  this  tumultuous  onset ; the  Earl  of 
Ulster  appearing  to  have  been  the  only  lord  who  came  forward  to 
face  the  danger,  on  its  first  burst. 

Summoning  his  vassals  to  attend  him  at  Roscommon,  De  Burgh 
marched  from  thence  to  Athlone,  where  he  was  joined  by  Feidlim 
O’Connor,  the  Prince  of  Connaught,  with  his  troops.  As  this  is  the 
only  great  native  lord  who  is  mentioned  as  adhering — and  even  in 
this  case  but  temporarily — to  the  side  of  the  English,  it  may  be 
concluded  that  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  Chiefs  enumerated  in  the 
King’s  writ,  had  joined  the  standard  of  the  Scots.  With  no  other 


36 


EDWARD  BRUCE  CROWNED  KING. 


support  than  the  troops  of  Feidlim,  De  Burgh  marched  in  pursuit 
of  the  invaders.  He  had  even  refused  the  proffered  aid  of  the  Lord 
Justice,  saying  to  him  haughtily,  “You  may  return  home;  I and 
my  vassals  will  overcome  the  Scots.”  In  the  meantime  Edward 
Bruce,  while  at  Dundalk,  (which  town  he  had  stormed  and  burnt,) 
had  caused  himself  to  be  crowned  King  of  Ireland  ; and  then  over- 
running the  adjoining  country,  he  returned  again  to  the  north  of 
of  Ulster,  taking  up  a post  near  the  river  Banne.  Here  De  Burgh 
made  a vigorous  attack  upon  the  Scottish  forces,  but,  after  a fierce 
conflict,  was  defeated,  with  great  loss  of  men.  Bruce  also  suffered 
much  loss,  and  his  army  being  thus  reduced  in  numbers,  he  de- 
spatched the  Earl  of  Moray  into  Scotland,  for  fresh  succor. 

The  part  taken  by  the  Prince  of  Connaught,  in  aiding  the  Eng- 
lish, drew  down  odium  upon  him  among  his  fellow  countrymen, 
and  during  Feidlim’s  absence,  his  kinsman  Roderic  O’Connor,  tak- 
ing advantage  of  the  feeling  against  him,  made  himself  master  of 
the  Irish  district  of  Connaught.  To  punish  and  expel  this  usurper 
was  now  the  most  urgent  object  of  Feidlim,  who,  with  his  own 
followers  alone,  his  English  friends  being  too  weak  to  assist  him, 
took  the  field  against  Roderic,  and  a great  battle  fought  between  the 
two  Chiefs,  ended  in  the  death  of  Roderic,  and  the  discomfiture  of 
his  force.  To  the  great  joy  of  his  brother  Chieftains,  Feidlim  now, 
in  the  face  of  the  country,  renounced  his  alliance  with  the  English, 
and  declared  for  Bruce  and  the  Scots. 

Meanwhile,  the  Scottish  leader,  following  up  his  late  victory,  laid 
seige  to  the  strong  hold  of  Carrickfergus,  and  the  Irish  rising  in 
arms  throughout  Ulster  and  Munster,  destroyed  several  castles  of 
the  Barons.  The  increasing  spread  of  the  spirit  of  revolt,  infecting 
some  even  among  the  English  themselves,  appeared  to  the  govern- 
ment to  warrant  the  demand  of  some  public  pledge  of  allegiance 
from  those  on  whose  loyalty  the  safety  and  maintenance  of  the 
King’s  government  depended  ; and  a declaration  was  accordingly 
framed,  wherein,  after  stating  that  “ the  Scottish  enemies  had  drawn 
over  to  them  all  the  Irish  of  Ireland,  several  of  the  great  lords,  and 
many  English  people,”  the  subscribers,  (headed  by  John  Fitz 
Thomas,  Baron  of  Offal ey,)  pledged  themselves  to  maintain  loyally 
the  rights  of  the  King  against  all  persons  whatsoever. 

Bruce  himself,  having  left  some  troops  to  carry  on  the  seige  of 
Carrickfergus,  marched  his  army  into  Meath ; where  he  encoun- 


PROGRESS  OP  THE  WAR. 


37 


tered  an  English  force  under  the  Lord  Justice  Mortimer,  and  put 
them  to  rout  with  great  slaughter.  He  afterwards  pushed  on  into 
Kildare,  defeating  the  English,  (owing  to  feuds  among  the  Barons,) 
in  several  skirmishes,  and  putting  their  army  to  flight.  Encouraged 
by  these  evidences  of  weakness  and  discord  in  the  English  camp, 
the  people  of  Munster  and  Leinster  rose  in  open  rebellion,  and  burnt 
the  country  from  Arklaw  to  Ley.  But  the  Lord  Justice,  issuing 
out  upon  them,  checked  their  depredations,  and  returned  with  four- 
score heads,  as  a trophy  of  his  triumph,  to  Dublin. 

Towards  the  beginning  of  the  year  1316,  the  forces  of  both  parties 
were  early  in  the  field  ; but  the  Scots,  after  a few  adventurous  efforts, 
were  compelled,  from  the  want  of  provisions,  to  return  into  Ulster. 
There,  taking  possession  ofNorthburg  Castle,  they  sat  down  quietly 
in  their  quarters,  and  Edward  Bruce  kept  his  court  and  took  cogni- 
zance of  all  pleas,  as  composedly  as  if  it  were  in  times  of  pro- 
found peace.  The  English  forces  found  employment  in  sub- 
duing the  natives,  who  daily  infested  the  neighborhood  of  Dublin, 
having  already  laid  waste  the  town  of  Wicklow  and  the  adjacent 
country. 

Occasional  skirmishes  took  place  between  a detachment  of  the 
English  troops  and  the  Scots,  and  the  arrival  of  supplies  to  Bruce 
from  Scotland,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1316,  gave  a new  impulse 
to  the  conflict — renewing  the  various  horrors  of  massacre,  burning, 
and  waste,  which  had  been  for  a short  time  suspended. 

The  conduct  of  those  lords  who  had  stood  firmly  by  the  English 
government,  was  rewarded  by  the  King  in  bestowing  new  dignities 
and  titles  on  several  of  them.  The  Lord  Justice  Butler,  was  created 
Earl  of  Carrick,  and  John  Pitz  Thomas,  Baron  of  Offaley,  Earl  of 
Kildare.  The  De  Burghs  and  Geraldines  now  consented  to  a tem- 
porary truce;  and  there  appeared,  among  all,  a firm  and  loyal  reso- 
lution to  set  themselves  manfully  to  the  defence  of  the  realm. 

They  were  soon  furnished  with  a favorable  opportunity  of  en- 
countering, in  a pitched  battle,  the  now  favorite  champion  of  the 
Irish,  leidlim  O Connor,  who  had  atoned  for  his  former  course,  by 
a series  of  bold  and  successful  irruptions  into  the  English  territory  ; 
in  the  course  of  which  many  gallant  English  knights  were  slain. 
The  Connaught  Chief  now  took  the  field,  with  a large  force,  to  meet 
the  troops  under  William  De  Burgh,  assisted  by  Richard  De  Ber- 
mingham.  The  two  armies  encountered  each  other  near  Athenry, 
6 


38 


ROBERT  BRUCE  IN  IRELAND. 


in  the  county  of  Galway,  and,  according  to  Irish  writers,  the  most 
bloody  and  decisive  battle  ensued  that  had  ever  been  fought  from 
the  time  of  the  first  English  invasion.  This  mighty  struggle  ended 
in  the  total  defeat  of  the  Irish,  of  whom  not  less  than  eleven  thou- 
sand, it  is  said,  fell  on  the  field — the  gallant  Feidlim,  himself,  (then 
twenty-two  years  of  age,)  being  among  the  slain,  together  with  a 
number  of  other  great  lords  and  captains  of  Connaught  and  Meath. 
This  great  victory  of  the  English  gave  a final  blow  to  the  power 
of  the  O’Connors. 

There  had  now  elapsed  more  than  a year  since  the  landing  of 
Edward  Bruce  in  Ireland  ; and  though  his  arms  had  been  hitherto 
invariably  victorious,  no  definite  object  had  yet  been  gained  by  the 
enterprise.  In  tins  state  of  the  war,  his  illustrious  brother,  King 
Robert,  determined  generously  to  come  in  person  to  his  aid.  En- 
trusting the  government  of  Scotland  to  his  son-in-law,  the  Steward, 
and  Sir  James  Douglas,  he  passed  over  to  Ireland  with  a considera- 
ble body  of  troops. 

The  brave  garrison  of  Carrickfergus,  who  had  endured  months 
of  privation  and  suffering,  were  at  length  reduced,  by  famine,  to  the 
necessity  of  surrendering  to  the  two  brother  Kings, — the  lives  of  the 
garrison  being  spared. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  year  1316,  the  English  had  gained  some 
important  advantages  over  the  natives.  On  the  side  of  the  Scots, 
meanwhile,  exertions  were  made  to  ensure  a triumphant  result. 
Having  collected  together  a force,  computed  at  twenty  thousand 
men,  independent  of  the  tumultuous  army  of  the  northern  Irish,  they 
advanced  to  the  neighborhood  of  Dublin — laying  waste  and  burn- 
ing all  in  their  way.  The  citizens  of  Dublin,  on  finding  themselves 
menaced  with  a siege,  declared  their  resolution  to  defend,  obstinately, 
the  city,  setting  fire  at  once  to  the  suburbs.  To  the  intrepidity, 
indeed,  and  decisive  conduct  of  the  citizens  of  Dublin,  at  this  crisis, 
the  very  existence  of  the  Irish  government  was  mainly  indebted  for 
its  preservation.  On  being  informed  of  this  spirit  of  the  inhabitants, 
and  learning  also  that  the  city  was  well  walled,  the  Scottish  leader 
deemed  it  most  prudent  not  to  risk  the  delay  or  failure  of  a siege  ; 
but  under  the  guidance  of  Walter  de  Lacy,  an  English  knight,  who, 
in  shameless  defiance  of  his  late  oath  of  fealty,  had  become  the  ad- 
viser and  conductor  of  the  invading  army,  he  turned  off  with  his 
forces. 


ANNUAL  PARLIAMENTS  ESTABLISHED. 


39 


Passing  into  the  county  of  Kilkenny,  and  from  thence  wasting  the 
whole  country  as  far  as  Limerick,  the  Scots,  after  spreading  around 
them  misery  and  desolation,  were  brought  at  length  to  feel  the  ex- 
tremities of  famine  themselves — numbers  of  them  perishing  with 
hunger.  So  far  was  the  cause  of  the  Scots  from  finding  any  favor 
at  Limerick,  that  a large  army,  composed  of  English  and  Irish,  had 
been  collected  there  for  the  purpose  of  attacking  them — having 
chosen  for  their  leader  Murtogh  O’Brien,  Prince  of  Thomond — and 
this  force  was  about  to  march  against  the  invaders,  when  the  Scots 
made  a precipitate  retreat  into  Ulster,  in  May,  1317.  Here,  con- 
vinced perhaps  of  the  hopelessness  of  any  attempt  to  build  up  a 
durable  dominion  out  of  materials  so  rude  and  crumbling  as  the 
state  of  Ireland  then  afforded,  Robert  Bruce  committed  to  his  more 
sanguine  brother  the  further  prosecution  of  the  war,  and  taking 
away  with  him  only  the  Earl  of  Moray,  returned  to  his  own 
dominions. 

Instead  of  availing  themselves  of  the  weak  condition  to  which  the 
invaders  were  reduced,  to  strike  a blow  that  would  at  once  sweep 
them  from  the  face  of  the  land,  the  English  leaders  were  quietly 
employed  in  holding  Parliaments,  both  at  Kilkenny  and  in  Dublin, 
to  consult  on  the  state  of  the  country,  and  concert  measures  for  the 
expulsion  of  the  Scots.  On  one  occasion,  the  debates  lasted  for  a 
whole  week,  while  an  army  of  thirty  thousand  men  were  waiting 
orders  to  take  the  field. 

Following  in  the  train  of  an  example  in  England,  a petition  was 
addressed  this  year  to  the  King,  praying  that  a “parliament  might 
be  held  once  every  year  in  Ireland.”  It  is  clear  that  neither  by  the 
measures  adopted  in  England  for  that  purpose,  nor  by  the  prayer 
of  the  Irish  petition,  was  it  meant  that  Parliaments  should  be  elect- 
ed every  year,  but  simply  that  the  Parliament  should,  every  year, 
hold  a session.  With  respect  to  the  Irish  petition,  the  prayer  con- 
tained in  it  for  a Parliament  to  be  held  annually,  was  granted  in  the 
tenth  year  of  this  reign. 

Through  all  the  calamities  and  reverses  that  now  befel  the  na- 
tional cause  in  Ireland,  the  spirit  of  the  people  was  chiefly  sustained 
by  the  exhortations  of  the  clergy  ; for  it  is  a fact  worthy  of  notice, 
that  the  church  of  the  Irish  and  the  church  of  the  English  in  that 
country,  were,  at  this  time,  as  Avidely  divided  by  their  difference  in 
language  and  race,  as  they  have  been  at  any  period  since,  by  their 
difference  in  creed. 


40 


CIVIL  WAR  AND  DISCORD. 


The  disaffection  towards  the  ruling  powers,  so  strongly  manifested 
imong  the  clergy,  was  not  confined  to  the  native  ecclesiastics,  but 
<pread  also  among  their  English  or  Anglo-Irish  brethren.  Com- 
plaints had  been  made  by  the  English  Monarch  to  Pope  John  XXII., 
with  whom  he  stood  high  in  favor,  of  the  disloyal  conduct  of  the 
Irish  clergy  ; and  a letter  was  addressed,  accordingly,  by  his  Holi- 
ness, to  the  Archbishops  of  Dublin  and  Cashel,  empowering  them  to 
admonish,  and,  if  necessary,  excommunicate  all  such  rebels  to  the 
English  crown. 

At  this  time,  the  same  chaotic  confusion  of  public  and  private 
warfare  seems  to  have  prevailed  over  the  whole  kingdom.  The 
De  Lacys  having  defied  and  baffled  the  authority  of  the  Lord  Jus- 
tice Mortimer,  and  murdered  an  envoy  sent  to  treat  with  them  for 
peace,  these  savage  lords  were  attacked  by  the  Lord  Justice  in  their 
own  territory,  driven  into  Connaught,  and  proclaimed  traitors  and 
outlaws,  and  numbers  of  their  followers  slain.  The  Chief  Justice 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  Sir  Hugh  Cannon,  was  murdered  by 
one  of  the  English  family  of  the  Berminghams. 

Among  the  Irish,  meanwhile,  (says  Moore,)  the  old  game  of  dis- 
cord continued  to  be  carried  on  with  all  the  usual  national  zest ; 
and  a quarrel  which  had  been  for  some  time  kindling  between  two 
great  Captains  or  Princes  of  Connaught,  now  led  to  a battle,  attend- 
ed with  the  slaughter  of  four  thousand  of  their  respective  followers. 
It  was  this  discord  among  themselves,  the  inherent  vice  of  the  Irish 
nation,  that  paralyzed  then,  as  it  has  done  ever  since,  every  effort 
for  their  enfranchisement,  and  which,  at  that  time,  would  have  kept 
them  hopeless  and  confirmed  slaves,  had  even  a whole  army  of  Ro- 
bert Bruces  thronged  to  their  deliverance. 

The  spell  of  inaction  that  had  hung  for  months  around  Edward 
Bruce — owing  far  more  to  the  weakened  condition  of  his  army  than 
to  any  effect  produced  by  the  anathemas  of  the  Pope — was  now  on 
the  point  of  being  broken,  and  in  a way  fatal  to  his  chivalrous  enter- 
prise and  life.  Alexander  Bicknor,  Archbishop  of  Dublin,  had  just 
neen  appointed  Lord  Justice,  succeeding  in  that  office  the  Archbishop 
of  Cashel,  William  Fitz  John.  An  early  and  abundant  harvest  in 
all  those  parts  of  the  country  not  wholly  wasted  by  war,  enabled  both 
)f  the  belligerent  parties  to  resume  early  their  operations,  in  the  year 
1318  ; and  Edward  Bruce,  taking  the  field  with  an  army  amount- 
ng,  as  some  say,  to  about  three  thousand  men,  marched  to  the 


DEFEAT  AND  DEATH  OF  EDWARD  BRUCE. 


41 


raughard,  (an  artificial  mount)  a memorable  spot  within  two  miles 
of  Dundalk.  He  was  assisted  in  the  command  by  several  Scottish 
noblemen,  and  the  three  De  Lacys  had  also  joined  his  ranks. 

The  English  force  which  had  marched  from  Dublin,  to  encounter 
this  army,  was  commanded  by  the  Lord  John  Bermingham,  having 
under  him  a number  of  distinguished  officers.  According  to  the 
Scottish  historians.  Edward  Bruce  had,  in  the  course  of  the  three 
years  during  which  he  waged  war  in  Ireland,  encountered  the  Eng- 
lish armies  eighteen  times,  and  been  in  each  battle  victorious.  The 
same  authorities  compute  his  force  on  the  present  occasion  to  have 
been  little  more  than  a tenth  of  that  of  his  adversaries;  while  the 
English  chroniclers  on  the  other  hand,  represent  the  number  of 
their  own  countrymen  to  have  been  not  more  than  one  half  of  that 
of  the  Scots.  On  which  ever  side,  in  these  widely  differing  state- 
ments, the  balance  of  truth  may  be  supposed  to  lean,  it  is  clear,  from 
both  accounts,  that  the  conflict  was  short ; that  victory  declared 
for  the  English  in  the  very  first  onset,  and  moreover,  that  to  the 
desperate  bravery  of  one  man  that  result  is  mainly  to  be  attributed. 
Under  the  persuasion  that  the  death  of  Bruce  himself  would  give 
victory  at  once  to  the  English,  John  Maupas,  a brave  Anglo-Irish 
knight,  rushed  devotedly  into  the  Scottish  ranks  to  accomplish  that 
object,  and  when,  after  the  battle,  the  body  of  Bruce  was  discovered, 
that  of  John  Maupas  was  found  laying  stretched  across  it.  The 
amount  of  the  slain  in  this  battle  has  been  variously  stated,  being 
made  by  each  party  proportionate  to  its  own  calculations  of  the 
numbers  originally  engaged.  The  English  divided  the  body  of 
Bruce  into  quarters,  and  sent  them  to  be  exhibited  all  over  the 
country ; while  the  head  was  presented  as  a trophy,  by  Berming- 
ham, to  the  King  of  England. 

The  interposition  of  the  Pope,  to  which  we  have  alluded,  in  aid 
of  the  views  of  the  English  King,  was  felt  the  more  keenly  by  the 
great  body  of  the  Irish  Chieftains,  as  coming  from  a quarter  to  which 
the  ancient  fame  of  their  country  for  sanctity  and  learning  might 
well  have  encouraged  them  to  look  for  sympathy  and  support.  In 
the  warmth  of  this  feeling,  a remonstrance  was  addressed  to  the 
Pope,  (before  the  Scottish  invasion,)  by  O’Neill,  Prince  of  Tyrone, 
speaking  as  the  representative  of  his  brother  Chiefs,  and  of  the 
whole  Irish  nation. 

“ It  is  with  difficulty,”  say  they,  “ we  can  bring  ourselves  to  be- 
lieve that  the  biting  and  venomous  calumnies  with  which  we,  and 


42 


IRISH  REMONSTRANCE  TO  THE  POPE. 


all  who  espouse  our  cause,  have  been  invariably  assailed  by  the 
English,  should  have  found  admittance,  also,  into  the  mind  of  your 
holiness,  and  have  been  regarded  by  you  as  founded  in  fact  and 
truth.”  Lest  such  an  impression,  however,  should,  unluckily,  have 
been  produced,  they  begged  to  lay  before  him  their  own  account  of 
the  origin  and  state  of  the  kingdom. — “ if  indeed  a kingdom  we  can 
call  the  melancholy  remains  of  a nation  that  so  long  groans  under 
the  tyranny  of  the  Kings  of  England,  and  of  their  Barons,  some  of 
whom,  though  born  among  us,  continue  to  practice  the  same  rapine 
and  cruelty  against  us,  which  their  ancestors  did  against  ours  here- 
tofore.” 

After  this  introduction,  the  Irish  Chiefs  proceed  to  give  a rapid 
sketch  of  the  early  history  of  their  country,  saying  that  their  fore- 
fathers came  from  Spain,  and  beginning  with  the  sons  of  Milesius, 
they  lay  claim  to  a long  succession  of  the  native  Kings  of  Ireland, 
to  the  year  1170,  when  Pope  Adrian  IV.,  an  Englishman  by  birth, 
and  still  more,  as  they  add,  “ by  affection  and  prejudice,  delivered  up 
a country,  which  its  own  line  of  Kings  had  preserved  sacred  from 
foreign  dominion  through  so  many  ages,  to  be  the  helpless  prey  of  a 
horde  of  tyrants,  giving  the  dominion  to  Henry  II.,  King  of  Eng- 
land, whom  he  ought  rather  to  have  stripped  of  his  own,  on  account 
of  his  crime,  in  suffering  or  causing  St.  Thomas  (Becket)  of  Canter- 
bury, to  be  murdered.  Ever  since  those  English  appeared  first 
upon  our  coasts,  in  virtue  of  the  above  surreptitious  donation,  they 
entered  our  territories  under  a certain  specious  pretext  of  piety,  en- 
deavoring in  the  mean  time,  by  every  artifice  malice  could  suggest, 
to  extirpate  us  root  and  branch,  and  without  any  other  right 
than  that  of  the  strongest,  they  have  forced  us  to  quit  our  fair 
and  ample  habitations,  and  paternal  inheritances,  and  to  take  re- 
fuge in  the  mountains,  the  woods,  and  the  morasses  of  the  coun- 
try ; nor  can  even  the  caverns  and  dens  protect  us  against  their 
insatiable  avarice.  They  pursue  us  even  into  these  frightful 
abodes,  endeavoring  to  dispossess  us  of  the  wild  uncultivated  rocks, 
and  arrogating  to  themselves  the  property  of  every  place  on  which 
we  can  stamp  the  figure  of  our  feet ; and  through  on  excess  of  the 
most  profound  ignorance,  impudence,  arrogance,  or  blind  insanity 
scarce  conceivable,  they  dare  to  assert  that  not  a single  part  of  Ire- 
land is  ours,  but  the  right  entirely  their  own.  Hence  the  implaca- 
ble animosities  and  exterminating  carnage,  which  are  perpetually 
carried  on  between  us ; hence  our  continual  hostilities,  our  detesta- 


THEIR  GRIEVANCES  STATED. 


43 


ble  treacheries,  our  bloody  reprisals,  our  numberless  massacres,  in 
which,  since  their  invasion  to  this  day,  more  than  fifty  thousand  men 
have  perished  on  both  sides,  not  to  speak  of  those  who  have  of 
famine,  despair,  the  rigors  of  captivity,  nightly  marauding,  and 
other  disorders,  which  it  is  impossible  to  remedy  on  account  of  the 
anarchy  in  which  we  live,” 

The  remonstrance  alleges  that  the  English,  depriving  the  people 
of  their  own  ancient  and  written  code  of  laws,  had  replaced  them  by 
others  of  their  own  dictation,  conceived  in  a spirit  of  hatred  towards 
the  people  for  whom  they  legislated ; and,  in  more  than  one  in- 
stance, providing  deliberately  for  their  extermination. 

To  give  some  idea  of  the  iniquity  of  the  laws  under  which  they 
suffered,  the  writers  of  the  remonstrance  cite  the  following  in- 
stances : — 1.  That  no  Irishman  could  bring  an  action  in  the  King’s 
courts ; though  every  man  not  an  Irishman  could,  on  any  charge, 
prosecute  an  Irishman.  2.  That  if  an  Englishman  murdered  a 
native,  layman  or  ecclesiastic,  no  cognizance  would  be  taken  of  the 
crime  in  the  King’s  courts.  3.  That  no  native  woman,  married  to 
an  Englishman,  could  on  his  death,  be  admitted  to  the  claim  of 
dower.  4.  That  it  was  in  the  power  of  any  English  lord  to  set 
aside  the  last  wills  of  the  natives  subjected  to  him,  and  dispose  of 
their  property  according  to  his  own  pleasure,  appropriating  it  all,  if 
such  was  his  inclination,  to  himself. 

From  a total  dissimilarity,  as  they  allege,  between  the  English 
and  themselves,  not  only  in  race  and  language,  but  in  every  other 
respect,  there  appeared  no  longer  the  slightest  hope  that  they  could 
ever  live  peacefully  together.  So  great  was  the  pride  and  lust  of 
dominion  on  one  side,  and  such  the  resolution  on  the  other,  to  cast 
off  the  intolerable  yoke,  that  as  yet  there  never  had  been,  so  never, 
in  this  life  would  there  be,  any  sincere  coalition  between  the  two  na- 
tions, entertaining  natural  enmity  against  each  other,  flowing  from 
mutual  malignity,  descending  from  father  to  son  and  from  genera- 
tion to  generation. 

They  add  that  they  had,  two  years  before,  proposed  to  the  King 
of  England  and  his  Council,  a settlement,  by  whichall  such  lands  as 
were  known  to  be  rightfully  theirs,  should  be  secured  in  future  to 
them,  by  direct  tenure  from  the  crown  ; or  even  agreeing,  in  order 
to  save  the  further  effusion  of  blood,  to  submit  to  any  friendly  plan 
proposed  by  the  King  himself,  for  a fair  division  of  the  lands  be- 
tween them  and  their  adversaries. 


44 


EXACTION  OP  COIGNE  AND  LIVERY. 


To  this  proposition,  they  say,  no  answer  had  been  returned, 
“ Wherefore,”  continue  they,  “ let  no  one  feel  surprise  if  we  now- 
endeavor  to  work  out  our  own  deliverance,  and  defend,  as  well  as 
we  can,  our  rights  and  liberties  against  the  harsh  and  cruel  tyrants 
who  would  destroy  them;  nor  can  we  be  accused  of  rebellion, 
owing  them  no  allegiance  ; therefore,  without  the  least  remorse  of 
conscience,  while  breath  remains,  we  will  attack  them  in  defence  of 
our  just  rights,  and  never  lay  down  our  arms  until  we  force  them  to 
desist.”  In  conclusion  they  announce  to  the  Pope,  that  for  the 
more  speedy  and  effectual  attainment  of  their  object,  they  have 
called  to  their  aid,  the  illustrious  Earl  of  Carrick,  Edward  De  Bruce, 
a lord  descended  from  the  same  ancestors  with  themselves,  and 
have  made  over  to  him,  by  letters  patent,  all  the  rights  which  they 
themselves,  as  rightful  heirs  of  the  kingdom  respectively  possess, — 
thereby  constituting  him  King  and  Lord  of  Ireland. 

The  advantages  resulting  to  the  English  cause  from  the  defeat 
and  overthrow  of  Bruce  and  his  army  in  Ireland,  were  not  so  great 
as  might  have  been  expected.  The  country  was  exhausted  by  war 
and  famine,  the  treasury  was  impoverished,  and  the  population  was 
thinned.  The  storm  had  partly  subsided,  but  it  had  not  wholly 
passed  away ; and  to  the  evils  already  existing  were  added  fresh 
ones,  by  the  notorious  misrule  and  rapacity  of  those  in  power  and 
authority.  Among  other  barbarous  and  nefarious  practices  which 
sprung  up  during  that  period,  there  was  none  which  embraced  a 
wider  field  for  every  species  of  oppression,  rapine,  and  massacre,  than 
that  which  was  then  called  coigne  and  livery , since  known  by  the 
name  of  free  quarters,  namely,  the  forced  quartering  of  soldiers  upon 
the  inhabitants.  Of  this  hateful  system  Sir  John  Davies  remarks, 
11  In  the  time  of  King  Edward  II.,  Maurice  Fitz  Thomas,  of  Des- 
mond, being  chief  commander  of  the  army  against  the  Scots,  began 
that  wicked  extortion  of  coigne  and  livery  and  pay  ; that  is,  he 
and  his  army  took  provisions,  provender  for  horses,  and  money  at 
their  pleasure,  without  any  ticket  or  satisfaction.  And  this  was, 
after  that  time,  the  general  fault  of  all  the  governors  and  command- 
ers in  this  land.” 

Historical  antiquaries  have  been  divided  upon  the  inquiry,  at 
what  period  Ireland  began  to  have  a Parliament  of  her  own  ; and  it 
seems  to  be  agreed  upon  by  the  best  authorities,  that  until  the  reign 
of  Edward  II.,  all  the  deliberative  meetings  held  in  that  kingdom, 


PARLIAMENTS  IN  IRELAND. 


45 


by  whatsoever  name  they  may  have  been  called,  were  rather  general 
assemblies  of  the  great  men,  than,  properly,  Parliaments.  That 
they  were  sometimes  considerable  in  numbers,  as  well  as  in  rank, 
appears  from  a Parliament  of  this  desciption,  held  in  the  year  1302, 
at  which  were  present  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  per- 
sons ; and  in  the  following  reign,  a general  assembly,  or  parliament, 
was  convened,  which,  in  addition  to  all  the  English  nobility  in  Ire- 
land, included  likewise  the  four  Archbishops,  ten  Bishops,  the  Abbot 
of  St.  Thomas,  the  Prior  of  Kilmainham,  and  the  Dean  and  Chapter 
of  Dublin.  There  were  likewise  present,  on  this  occasion,  several 
great  Irish  lords,  among  whom  are  the  following,  and  thus  desig- 
nated : — O’Hanlan,  Duke  of  Oriel ; O’Donell,  Duke  of  Tyrconnel ; 
O’Neill,  Duke  of  Tyrone. 

Until  the  period  when  regular  Parliaments  began  to  be  held  in 
Ireland,  it  was  usual  to  transmit  thither,  from  time  to  time,  the  laws 
made  by  the  English  legislature,  to  be  there  proclaimed,  enrolled, 
and  executed,  as  laws  also  of  Ireland  ; and  there  can  be  little  doubt 
that  what  was  then  styled  a Parliament  in  that  kingdom,  was  no 
more  than  the  summoning  of  the  great  men  of  the  realm  together, 
reading  over  to  them  the  law  or  laws  transmitted  from  England, 
and  enjoining  that  they  should  obey  them. 

No  other  event  of  importance  occurred  during  the  remainder  of 
the  reign  of  Edward  II.  As  a legislator,  he  did  more  for  Ireland 
than  any  of  his  predecessors  ; and  such,  at  one  time,  was  his  confi- 
dence in  his  subjects  there,  that  it  is  said  he  intended  to  throw  him- 
self upon  their  allegiance,  during  the  progress  of  his  multiplied  ca- 
lamities in  England,  which  ended  in  his  being  the  victim  of  a con- 
spiracy, and  consequent  death,  in  1327,  in  the  forty-third  year  of 
his  age,  and  the  twentieth  of  his  reign. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

EDWARD  III. 

The  reign  of  the  third  Edward  will  be  found  to  differ  but  little 
from  those  of  his  predecessors,  with  regard  to  Ireland,  in  the  odious 
picture  it  presents  of  a cruel  and  rapacious  aristocracy  let  loose 
7 


46 


ENGLISH  LAWS  AGAIN  ASKED  FOR. 


upon  a defenceless,  because  divided,  people.  It  would  seem,  indeed, 
almost  incredible  that,  in  the  chivalrous  days  of  the  Edwards,  there 
should  have  been  found  so  many  of  high-born  and  warlike  English 
noblemen  to  take  a part  in  the  rude  and  inglorious  frays  of  Anglo- 
Irish  warfare.  But,  besides  the  temptations  so  fertile  a field  of  plun- 
der held  forth,  a nearer  insight  into  the  homes  and  habits  of  the 
English  nobility  of  that  period  might  warrant  the  conclusion  that 
they  themselves  were  still  very  backward  in  civilization;  and  that 
not  only  in  the  general  outline,  but  in  some  of  the  features,  also,  of 
their  social  condition,  they  differed  not  very  much  from  those  great 
Irish  Chieftains  against  whom  they  were  now  employing  all  the 
worst  arts  of  buccaneering  warfare.  Like  the  Irish  Chieftain,  the 
English  Baron  of  that  day  was  a kind  of  independent  potentate,  re- 
garding only  the  conventional  law  of  his  own  class,  and  submitting 
but  by  force  to  any  other ; while  constantly  surrounded  by  idle  and 
ruffianly  retainers,  ever  ready,  at  his  bidding,  for  rapine  and  mis- 
chief, he  bore,  like  the  Irish  Chief,  too  close  an  affinity  to  the  worst 
species  of  King,  to  be  ever  expected  to  prove,  under  any  circum- 
stances, a good  subject. 

Though  so  frequently  repulsed  in  their  efforts  to  obtain  the  pro- 
tection of  the  English  law,  the  natives  again,  in  the  second  year  of 
this  monarch’s  reign,  preferred  a petition  to  the  crown,  prayinar  that 
the  Irish  might  be  permitted  to  use  the  law  of  England,  without  be- 
ing obliged  to  purchase  charters  of  denization  to  qualify  them  for 
that  privilege.  The  writ  of  the  King,  recommending  this  prayer  to 
the  “unprejudiced”  attention  of  the  Lord  Justice,  differs  little  in 
phrase  or  tone  from  those  of  his  predecessors  on  the  same  point ; 
nor  is  any  thing  more  said  of  the  petition  during  the  remainder  of 
this  King’s  reign.  It  was  not,  however,  the  fault  of  the  sovereign 
that  the  great  benefits  of  English  law  had  not  been  extended  to  the 
natives  in  general ; and  among  the  articles  sent  over  by  the  King, 
three  years  after  this,  for  the  reformation  of  Ireland,  was  an  ordi- 
nance framed  with  a view  to  this  wise  policy,  expressed  in  these 
terms,  namely  : — “ That  one  and  the  same  law  be  observed  to  the 
Irish  and  the  English.”  But  this  royal  mandate,  like  all  the  rest, 
in  the  same  liberal  spirit  that  had  preceded  it,  was  rendered  null 
by  the  blind  selfishness  of  the  magnates  to  whom  it  was  addressed. 
Another  ordinance,  transmitted  at  the  same  time  to  Ireland,  was 
directed  against  that  standing  evil,  absenteeism . 


EDWARD  III.  FEIGNS  A VISIT  TO  IRELAND. 


47 


The  public  announcement  at  this  time,  by  the  King,  of  his  inten- 
tion to  pass  over  into  Ireland,  and  apply  himself  personally  to  the 
task  of  reforming  the  state  of  that  realm,  might  well  be  classed  with 
those  dawnings  of  better  fortune  which  now  and  then  opened  upon 
hapless  Ireland,  merely  to  close  again  in  darkness,  were  it  not  mani- 
fest that  all  the  preparations  made  ostensibly  for  the  King’s  Irish 
visit,  were  but  as  a blind  to  divert  attention  from  the  formidable  ex- 
pedition then  preparing  against  Scotland. 

The  King  had  sent  writs  to  the  Earl  of  Ulster  and  other  great 
lords,  announcing  his  intention  of  coming;  and  his  summons  to 
the  absentees,  dated  January,  1332,  requiring  them  to  accompany 
him,  and  recover  their  possessions  out  of  the  hands  of  the  rebels,  is 
addressed  to  Thomas,  Earl  of  Norfolk,  and  twenty-two  other  Eng- 
lish lords  and  gentlemen.  But  the  secret  scheme  which  had  been 
all  this  time  maturing  against  Scotland,  was  now  ripe  for  execu- 
tion ; and  the  mask  he  had  worn  towards  both  countries,  might 
with  impunity  be  cast  aside.  All  the  supplies,  therefore,  that  had 
been  granted  for  his  pacific  visit  to  Ireland,  he,  without  any  scru- 
ple, appropriated  to  his  memorable  Scottish  warfare  ; and  found,  in 
the  brilliant  victory  at  Halidon  Hill,  a result  far  more  suited  to  his 
chivalrous  tastes  than  any  that  the  precious,  but  slow  and  remote 
triumphs  of  the  legislator  could  furnish. 

The  only  measure  which  appears  to  have  been  taken  by  him  to- 
wards the  pacification  of  Ireland,  was  the  issue  of  writs  to  the  Lord 
Justice,  and  other  public  authorities,  empowering  them  to  admit  to 
the  King’s  peace  all  disaffected  persons,  as  well  English  as  Irish, 
upon  such  terms  as  the  Lord  Justice  and  his  Council  should  deem 
honorable  and  expedient. 

During  the  early  part  of  this  reign  several  new  insurrections 
broke  forth  among  the  natives,  particularly  in  the  provinces  of 
the  South  ; while  the  English  Barons  and  their  followers  were 
engaged  in  violent  quarrels  among  themselves,  in  the  course  of 
which  many  lives  were  lost,  including  several  gentlemen  of  rank 
and  distinction.  In  some  instances  the  natives  were  successful  in 
their  contests  with  the  government  troops,  and  the  Lord  Justice,  un- 
able to  cope  with  so  general  a spirit  of  insurrection,  called  in  the 
aid  of  Maurice  Fitz  Thomas,  who  had  a few  months  before,  been 
created  Earl  of  Desmond,  with  a grant  at  the  same  time  of  the 
royal  privileges  of  the  county  of  Kerry. 


48 


RENEWED  WARS  WITH  THE  NATIVES. 


The  palatinate  now  granted  to  Desmond,  formed  the  ninth  of 
those  petty  sovereignties  into  which  the  kingdom  had  been  wan- 
tonly parcelled,  in  order  to  enrich  and  exalt  a few  favored  indi- 
viduals, not  more  to  the  injury  of  the  people  than  to  the  usurpation 
and  abuse  of  the  privileges  of  the  crown.  For,  in  fact,  these  pa- 
latine lords  had  royal  jurisdiction  throughout  their  territories; 
made  Barons  and  Knights,  and  erected  courts  for  civil  and  crimi- 
nal causes,  as  well  as  for  the  management  of  their  own  revenues,  ac- 
cording to  the  forms  in  which  the  King’s  courts  were  established  in 
Dublin.  They  made  their  own  judges,  sheriffs,  and  coroners,  nor 
did  the  King’s  writ  run  in  the  palatinates,  though  they  comprised 
more  than  two  parts  of  the  English  colonies. 

In  compliance  with  the  desire  of  the  government,  and  under  a 
promise  from  them  of  King’s  pay,  Desmond,  at  the  head  of  nearly  ten 
thousand  men,  having  the  O’Brians  for  his  allies,  took  the  field  against 
the  combined  septs  of  Leinster,  the  O’Nolans,  O’Morroughs,  and 
O’Dempsy’s  ; and  laying  waste  all  their  lands,  compelled  them  to 
submit  and  give  hostages.  The  funds  of  the  government  being 
found  insufficient  to  defray  the  expenses  of  this  war,  or  discharge 
the  King’s  pay  promised  to  Desmond,  that  lord  had  recourse,  for  the 
subsistence  of  his  troops,  to  the  old  Irish  exaction  of  coigne  and 
livery,  a mode  of  taxation  which  he  himself  had  first  brought  into 
use  among  the  English,  (having  resorted  to  it,  as  we  have  men- 
tioned, in  the  preceding  reign,  in  the  war  against  Bruce,)  and 
which  his  cousin,  the  Earl  of  Kildare,  now  readily  adopted,  after 
his  example. 

The  following  year  was  but  a repetition  of  the  same  violent  scenes ; 
and  under  the  two  several  heads  of  English  dissension  and  Irish 
insurrection,  may  be  classed  all  that  is  recorded  of  its  stormy  course. 
A large  number  of  the  natives  in  the  county  of  Meath  were  attacked 
and  put  to  flight  by  the  Earls  of  Ulster  and  Ormond  and  the  sons 
of  three  Irish  Kings  were  among  the  slain.  While  engaged  against 
other  natives,  headed  by  O’Brian,  the  English  Earls  of  Ulster  and 
Desmond  could  not  refrain  from  carrying  on  their  own  personal 
quarrels,  and  to  such  lengths  did  their  feuds  proceed,  that  the  Lord 
Justice  seized  the  leaders  of  both  factions,  and  committed  the  two 
lords  to  the  custody  of  the  marshal  of  Limerick. 

In  the  year  1331,  the  Earl  of  Ulster  was  appointed  by  the  King, 
Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  and  Sir  Anthony  Lucy,  a man  of  high 


DISAFFECTION  OF  THE  BARONS. 


49 


reputation  in  England,  but  of  a severe  and  unbending  character, 
was  sent  over  as  Lord  Justice.  Soon  after  his  arrival  a great  victory 
was  gained  over  the  Irish  in  Meath.  The  new  Lord  Justice  was 
strongly  prejudiced  against  the  Anglo-Irish,  among  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  whom  was  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  whose  popular 
qualities,  added  to  his  great  wealth  and  station,  gave  him  an  influ- 
ence throughout  the  country,  so  powerful,  in  many  instances,  as  to 
throw  the  authority  of  the  government  itself  into  the  shade.  To  Sir 
Anthony  Lucy,  who  had  come  prepared  to  uphold  sternly  the  pow- 
ers entrusted  to  him,  this  rival  ascendency  was,  of  course,  pecu- 
liarly obnoxious,  and  the  jealousy  it  excited  in  his  mind  soon  found 
an  opportunity  of  exploding. 

A Parliament  summoned  by  him  to  meet  at  Dublin,  shortly  after 
his  arrival,  having  exhibited  but  a thin  attendance  of  great  lords, 
he  thought  right  to  adjourn  it  to  the  7th  of  July,  when  it  was  held 
at  Kilkenny  ; and  there  the  Earl  of  Kildare,  with  other  lords  and 
gentlemen,  who  had  on  the  former  occasion  absented  themselves, 
gave  their  attendance  and  were  freely  pardoned  ; having  been  first 
sworn  to  bear  allegiance  and  keep  the  peace  in  future.  There 
were,  however,  many  of  the  powerful  lords,  and,  among  the  rest, 
Maurice  of  Desmond,  who  had  pointedly  withheld  their  presence  ; 
and  an  outbreak  of  the  Irish  at  the  same  time,  having  appeared  to 
the  Lord  Justice  to  indicate  concert  between  these  rebels  and  the 
disaffected  lords,  he  proceeded  summarily  to  act  upon  this  suspi- 
cion. Lord  Henry  Mandeville,  and  the  Earl  of  Desmond  were  ar- 
rested ; the  latter  being  brought  from  Limerick  to  Dublin  and  im- 
prisoned in  the  castle.  Several  other  arrests  took  place,  in  some 
instances,  it  would  appear  not  without  just  grounds  ; as  the  Lord 
William  Bermingham  was,  notwithstanding  his  splendid  military 
career,  executed  at  Dublin. 

In  June,  1333,  William  De  Burgh,  third  Earl  of  Ulster,  was 
treacherously  murdered  near  Carrickfergus  by  his  own  servants, 
an  event,  which  from  his  youth  and  exalted  station,  excited  a strong 
and  general  sensation  throughout  the  country.  One  feature  of 
savage  life  that  marked  this  murder  was  the  great  number  of  per- 
sons engaged  in  it.  The  Lord  Justice  found  that  the  country  peo- 
ple had  anticipated  his  purpose  of  punishing  the  delinquents,  by 
killing  three  hundred  of  the  murderers  and  their  abettors  in  one 
day.  For  a long  time  after,  the  following  clause  used  to  be  inserted 


50 


DEGENERATE  ENGLISHMEN. 


in  all  pardons : “With  the  exception  of  the  death  of  the  late  Earl 
of  Ulster.”  The  young  lord,  who  was  thus  cut  off  in  his  twenty- 
first  year,  left  an  only  child,  a daughter,  the  heiress  of  his  great 
possessions,  who  was  married,  in  the  year  1352,  to  Lionel,  third  son 
of  King  Edward  III.  This  Prince  was  created,  in  her  right,  Earl 
of  Ulster,  and  also  Lord  of  Connaught,  and  after  him,  these  titles 
and  possessions  were  enjoyed,  through  marriage  or  descent,  by  dif- 
ferent Princes  of  the  royal  blood,  until  at  length,  in  the  person  of 
Edward  IV.,  they  became  the  special  inheritance  and  revenue  of 
the  English  crown. 

Immediately  on  the  death  of  the  Earl  of  Ulster,  the  Chiefs  of  the 
junior  branches  of  the  family  of  the  De  Burghs,  residing  in  Con- 
naught, fearing  the  transfer  of  his  large  possessions  into  strange 
hands  by  the  marriage  of  the  heiress,  seized  upon  his  estates,  and 
the  two  most  powerful  of  the  family,  Sir  William  and  Sir  Edmond, 
progenitors  of  the  Earls  of  Clanricade  and  Mayo,  having  confeder- 
ated together,  and  declared  themselves  independent,  took  possession 
of  the  entire  country  ; the  town  of  Galway,  together  with  the  coun- 
try as  far  as  the  Shannon,  falling  to  the  lot  of  Sir  William,  who 
took  the  title  of  Mac  William  Eighter,  and  Sir  Edmond  that  of  Mac- 
William  Oughter.  To  enlist  the  sympathy  of  the  natives  on  their 
side,  they  renounced  the  English  dress,  language,  and  names.  The 
example  set  by  these  “ degenerate  English,”  as  they  were  styled, 
.from  this  period  was  extensively  followed  throughout  the  kingdom ; 
and  the  frequent  occurrence  of  the  words  “ English  rebels,”  in  the 
legaj  records  of  the  times,  shows  that  disaffection  to  the  crown  was 
no  longer  confined  to  mere  “ Irish  enemies.” 

In  the  spring  of  this  year,  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  after  being  impris- 
oned for  eighteen  months,  was  released  ; and  in  a Parliament  held 
soon  after,  almost  all  the  chief  noblemen  of  the  land  engaged  them- 
selves and  their  estates  as  security  for  his  future  fealty.  In  1336 
the  Earl  was  summoned  to  attend  the  King  in  his  expedition  into 
Scotland. 

The  Countess  of  Ulster,  after  the  murder  of  the  Earl,  her  husband, 
fled  to  England,  with  her  infant  daughter,  for  safety.  No  returns 
from  her  Irish  possessions  having  been  received  by  her,  the  Govern- 
ment took  all  her  castles,  lands,  and  tenements  there,  into  their  own 
hands,  and  assigned,  for  her  dowry,  estates  of  equal  value  in  Eng- 
land. 


THE  KING  RESOLVES  ON  RIGOROUS  MEASURES. 


51 


In  the  year  1339,  the  Irish  were  again  up  in  arms  throughout 
the  whole  kingdom.  The  Earl  of  Desmond  defeated  the  insurgents 
of  Kerry,  slaying  twelve  hundred  of  their  force.  The  Earl  of  Kil- 
dare attacked  those  of  Leinster,  pursuing  the  O’Dempsys*  so  closely 
that  many  of  them  were  drowned  in  the  river  Barrow. 

The  King-  of  England  and  his  advisers  now  resolved  on  a course 
of  rigorous  measures  towards  Ireland.  The  object  of  this  policy  to 
be  enforced,  was  not  merely  to  reduce,  but,  if  possible,  break  up  and 
disperse  that  enormous  mass  of  wealth  and  power  which  had  been 
accumulated,  in  the  course  of  nearly  two  centuries,  by  the  descend- 
ants of  the  first  English  conquerors  of  Ireland  ; and  the  earliest  in- 
timation given  of  such  a design,  had  been  during  the  administra- 
tion of  Sir  Anthony  Lucy,  in  the  Articles  of  Reform  transmitted  to 
that  Governor.  In  this  instrument  he  had  threatened  that,  if  the 
great  landholders  were  not  more  attentive  to  their  duties,  he  would 
be  compelled  to  take  their  lands  and  possessions  into  his  own  hands. 
There  was  no  attempt  made,  probably,  at  that  time,  to  carry  this 
threat  into  execution. 

On  the  arrival,  however,  of  Sir  John  Darcy,  who  had  been  ap- 
pointed Lord  Justice,  in  1341,  it  appeared  that  still  more  sweeping 
and  arbitrary  measures  were  about  to  be  enforced  against  the  old 
English  ; and  among  the  first  was  a general  resumption  of  all  the 
lands,  liberties,  seignories,  and  jurisdictions,  that  had  been  granted, 
in  Ireland,  not  by  Edward  III.  himself  only,  but  by  his  father.  In 
all  cases,  likewise,  whether  in  his  time,  or  that  of  his  predecessors, 
where  debts  due  to  the  crown  had  been  either  remitted  or  suspended, 
it  was  now  declared  that  all  such  indulgences  were  revoked,  and 
that  these  debts  must  be  strictly  levied,  without  any  delay.  This 
rigorous  measure  the  King  endeavored  to  excuse,  by  alleging  the 
necessity  he  found  himself  under  of  providing  tor  the  expenses  of 
the  war  just  then  renewed  with  France. 

An  ordinance  issued  by  the  King,  the  following  year,  addressed 
to  Sir  John  Darcy,  his  Justiciary,  declared  that,  whereas  it  had 
appeared  to  him  and  his  Council  that  they  would  be  better  and  more 
usefully  served  in  Ireland  by  English  officers,  having  revenues  and 
possessions  in  England,  than  by  Irish  or  English,  married  and  pos- 


* The  O Dempsys  were  one  of  the  Septs  inhabiting  the  ancient  territory  of  Hyfalgia, 
comprising  part  of  the  counties  of  Kildare,  King’s  and  Queen’s.  Among  the  other  Septs 
composing  this  Union,  were  the  O’Malones,  O’Dalys,  O’Mulloys,  MacLoghlins,  etc. 


52 


CONVENTION  OF  BARONS. 


sessing  estates  only  in  Ireland,  he  therefore  ordered  that  his  Justici-* 
ary,  after  diligent  inquiries,  should  remove  all  such  officers  as  were 
married  and  held  estates  in  Ireland,  and  replace  them  by  fit  Eng- 
lishmen, having  lands,  tenements,  and  benefices  in  England. 

This  open  announcement  of  the  royal  purpose  to  exclude,  in  fu- 
ture, from  all  share  in  the  government,  the  Anglo-Irish, — the  de- 
scendants of  those  who  had  conquered  the  realm,  as  well  as  of  those 
who  had  ever  since  struggled  to  retain  it,  and  to  establish  a purely 
English  dominion, — produced,  as  might  have  been  expected,  a burst 
of  indignant  feeling  throughout  the  whole  of  the  Anglo-Irish  popu- 
lation. The  jealousy  long  felt  by  the  crown  towards  the  Barons, 
whom  its  own  reckless  favors  had  nursed  into  such  portentous 
strength,  had  been  shown  before  ; but  it  was  not  until  now  that  this 
feeling  had  found  vent  for  itself  in  the  law  ; or  that  the  distinction 
between  the  two  races,  the  English  by  blood,  and  the  English  by 
birth,  was  resorted  to  as  a reason  or  pretext  for  the  sacrifice  of  the 
old  colonists  to  the  new.  It  was  now  too  late,  however,  to  think  of 
dislodging  an  evil  so  long  and  so  firmly  entrenched  ; and  the  only 
effect  of  the  unwise  aggression  was,  to  render  the  party  attacked 
more  sensible  of  their  own  power. 

To  allay  the  excitement  caused  by  this  measure,  a Parliament 
was  summoned  by  the  Lord  Justice,  to  meet  at  Dublin  in  October, 
1342 ; but  the  Earl  of  Desmond  and  the  lords  of  his  party,  refused 
to  attend  it;  and,  confederating  with  other  great  nobles,  as  well  as 
some  cities  and  corporations,  they  appointed,  of  themselves,  without 
any  reference  to  the  head  of  the  government,  a General  Assembly, 
to  meet  in  November,  at  Kilkenny.  This  Convention , at  which 
were  present  neither  the  Lord  Justice  nor  any  other  of  the  King’s 
officers,  made  itself  memorable,  not  only  by  the  peculiar  circum- 
stances under  which  it  met,  but  also  by  a long  and  spirited  petition 
to  the  King,  which,  though  not  expressly  pretending  to  parliament- 
ary authority,  purports  to  be  the  act  of  the  Prelates,  Earls,  Barons, 
and  Commoners  of  Ireland. 

The  petition,  which  is  in  old  Norman  French,  begins  by  com- 
plaining that,  in  consequence  of  mal-administration  and  the  un- 
guarded state  in  which  the  country  has  been  left,  more  than  a third 
part  of  the  lands  conquered  by  the  King’s  progenitors  had  been  taken 
possession  of  by  his  Irish  enemies  ; in  consequence  of  which,  his 
liege  English  subjects  had  become  so  impoverished  as  to  be  even  in 


THEIR  PETITION  TO  THE  KING. 


53 


want  of  the  means  of  subsistence.  * The  great  castles  and  fortresses 
which,  while  held  by  the  crown,  formed  the  safeguards  of  the  land, 
were  now  in  the  possession  ot  the  Irish  natives ; chiefly,  as  the 
petitioners  allege,  through  the  misconduct  of  the  King’s  treasurers. 

After  a number  of  other  charges  against  the  officers  of  the  royal 
exchequer,  accusing  them  of  fraud  and  overreaching,  and  praying 
the  King  to  apply  a remedy,  they  proceed  to  notice  the  grasping 
covetousness  of  his  ministers,  in  holding  each  a number  of  lucra- 
tive posts;  and  entreat  that,  in  future,  none  should  be  allowed  to 
hold  more  than  one  office.  But  the  late  order  of  the  King  for  the 
resumption  of  all  grants  made  in  Ireland  by  himself  and  his  royal 
progenitors,  was  naturally  the  grievance  on  which  their  resentments 
and  recollections  were  most  alive.  Recalling  to  his  mind  the  gal- 
lant devotion  of  his  liege  English  of  Ireland,  who,  at  their  own  cost, 
had  joined  the  royal  banner  in  the  wars  of  England  with  other  pow- 
ers, they  contrasted  this  devotion  with  the  conduct  of  the  English 
sent  over  to  rule  them,  and  who,  ignorant  of  the  country,  came  but 
to  enrich  themselves  at  the  expense  of  a people  whom  they  misgov- 
erned. The  late  royal  mandate,  revoking  former  gifts  and  grants, 
they  calmly,  but  firmly  pronounce  to  be  unjust  and  contrary  to  rea- 
son ; as  neither  by  their  ancestors  nor  by  themselves,  had  their  claims 
to  the  favors  of  the  crown  been  ever  forfeited  : and  they  therefore 
pray  of  the  King  that,  according  to  the  provisions  of  the  Great  Char- 
ter, they  may  not  be  ousted  of  their  freehold,  without  judgment. 

Of  the  nature  of  the  answer  returned  by  King  Edward  to  this 
earnest  remonstrance,  (which  enumerates  many  other  grievances 
and  abuses,  to  which  they  pray  the  King  to  apply  just  and  proper 
remedies,)  we  are  left  in  ignorance  ; the  only  notice  of  it  that  appears 
to  be  extant  being  found  in  a writ  addressed  by  him  to  the  remon- 
strants ; wherein,  acknowledging,  in  most  gracious  terms,  the  re- 
ceipt of  their  petition,  he  acquaints  them  that  his  answer  to  its  seve- 
ral prayers  had  been  sent,  under  the  great  seal,  to  John  March,  the 
Chancellor,  and  Thomas  De  Wogan.  He  concludes  this  writ  by 
informing  them  of  his  intention  to  pass  into  France,  with  a large 
force,  and  asking  their  aid  towards  his  expedition.  The  foreign 

* During  the  reign  of  Edward  II.,  and  in  the  first  years  of  that  of  Edward  III.,  the  Irish 
had  succeeded,  in  some  instances,  in  regaining  possession  of  their  ancient  territories  ; and 
the  greater  part  of  the  lands  of  Leinster  had  been,  for  some  time,  in  the  hands  of  Mac- 
Morrough  and  O’Moore,  the  descendants  of  the  original  Princes  of  that  province. 

8 


54 


RIGOROUS  MEASURES  AGAINST  THE  BARONS. 


wars  engaged  in  by  Edward,  withdrew  his  attention  from  his  domes- 
tic concerns,  and  prevented  him  from  applying  any  remedy  to  the 
evils  which  he  saw,  and  vainly  lamented. 

In  the  year  1343,  Sir  Ralph  Ufford,  who  had  married  the  Count- 
ess dowager  of  Ulster,  was  appointed  Lord  Justice ; and,  by  his 
harsh  and  rigorous  measures,  made  himself  so  odious  throughout 
the  country,  that  the  long  course  of  tempestuous  weather  which 
happened  to  prevail  during  his  administration,  was,  by  the  super- 
stition of  the  people,  laid  to  his  charge.  The  first  act  of  his  govern- 
ment was  to  put  down  the  aspiring  pretensions  of  Desmond,  who, 
assuming  his  former  attitude  of  defiance,  had  refused  to  attend  a 
Parliament  summoned  by  Ufford,  at  Dublin,  in  1345,  and  appointed 
an  assembly  of  his  own  friends  and  confederates,  at  the  town  of 
Callan.  But  the  new  Governor  defeated  this  bold  design.  The 
other  lords  of  Desmond’s  party,  on  being  prohibited  by  the  King’s 
writ,  declined  their  leader’s  summons  ; while,  at  the  same  time,  the 
Lord  Justice,  marching  a force  into  Munster,  seized  on  that  Earl’s 
lands,  and  fanned  them  out  at  a rent  payable  yearly  to  the  King. 
Getting  possession,  also,  by  stratagem,  of  castles  held  by  three 
Knights,  Sir  Eustace  Poer,  Sir  William  Grant,  and  Sir  John  Cot- 
trel,  he  hanged  them, — it  being  charged  against  them  that  they  had 
practised  the  grievous  exaction  of  coigne  and  livery;  (by  which 
was  meant  food  and  entertainment  for  the  soldiers,  and  forage  for 
the  horses.) 

In  consequence  of  these  strong  measures,  Desmond  surrendered 
himself  to  the  Lord  Justice,  and  was  bailed  on  the  recognizance  of 
the  Earls  of  Ulster  and  Ormond,  and  twenty-four  knights.  But  as 
(through  fear,  it  is  supposed  of  the  Lord  Justice,)  he  failed  to  ap- 
pear, according  to  the  condition  of  the  recognizance,  his  sureties 
were  left  to  answer  for  his  unworthy  default,  whereby  eighteen  of 
the  knights  lost  their  estates.  Desmond,  was  the  following  year, 
by  the  interposition  of  Sir  Walter  Bermingham,  then  Lord  Justice, 
permitted  to  proceed  to  lay  his  complaints  before  the  King,  by  whom 
he  was  graciously  received,  and  in  presenting  his  claims  for  redress 
of  the  wrongs  inflicted  upon  him  by  Ufford,  was  allowed  twenty 
shillings  per  day  for  his  expenses.  All  the  estates  too  of  those  who 
had  become  bound  for  him,  while  in  prison,  were  by  letters  patent 
restored  to  them. 


CHARACTERS  OP  LORD  JUSTICES  UFFORD  AND  ROKEEY.  55 

While  successful  in  curbing  and  humbling  the  proud  Earl  of 
Desmond,  Ufford  was  equally  fortunate  in  his  proceedings  against 
the  other  great  leader  of  the  Anglo-Irish, — the  Earl  of  Kildare ; 
though  the  means  employed  by  him  for  this  object  present  a train 
of  elaborate  perfidy.  Having  succeeded  in  decoying  the  Earl  to  Dub- 
lin, for  the  pretended  purpose  of  consulting  with  the  King’s  council, 
he  caused  him  to  be  suddenly  arrested  and  thrown  into  prison. 

The  administration  of  Sir  Ralph  Ufford  was  brought  to  a close 
by  his  death,  in  1346, — leaving  behind,  as  we  are  told,  one  general 
feeling  of  abhorrence  for  his  memory.  Nor  had  this  odium  been 
compensated  by  wordly  advantages,  as  he  died  in  necessitous  cir- 
cumstances; and  his  lady,  says  the  chronicler,  who  had  been  re- 
ceived like  an  Empress  and  lived  like  a Queen,  was  obliged  to  steal 
away  through  a postern  gate  of  the  castle,  to  avoid  the  curses  of  her 
enemies  and  the  clamor  of  her  creditors.  Such  are  the  portraits 
given  in  the  Irish  annals  of  these  two  unpopular  personages ; but 
with  every  appearance,  however,  of  having  been  exaggerated  and 
over-coloured  by  party  malice.  Coming  on  a mission  so  odious 
and  formidable  to  the  fierce  oligarchs  of  the  realm,  and  carrying  his 
measures  with  such  a high  hand,  as  even  the  King  himself  shrunk 
from  enforcing,  it  was,  perhaps,  fortunate  for  Ufford  to  be  thus  res- 
cued, even  by  death  from  the  storm  of  hatred  and  persecution  that 
would  have  assailed  him  on  his  retirement. 

The  whole  period  of  Ufford’s  government  did  not  extend  beyond 
a year  and  nine  months  ; and  after  him  there  was  a succession  of  no 
fewer  than  three  chief  Governors  in  the  short  space  of  two  months, 
under  one  of  whom,  (Sir  John  Morris,)  the  Earl  of  Kildare,  who 
had  been  kept  nearly  a year  in  prison,  was,  on  the  recognizance  of 
twenty-four  lords  and  gentlemen,  released  from  confinement.  He 
afterwards  went  to  France  with  attendants,  to  serve  the  King  at  the 
seige  of  Calais,  in  1347,  where,  for  his  gallant  conduct,  Edward 
bestowed  upon  him  the  honor  of  knighthood.  The  Irish  forces 
generally  were  honorably  distinguished  in  this  French  war. 

An  unusual  period  of  tranquillity  ensued  for  some  years,  during 
which  the  office  of  Lord  Justice  was  filled  by  five  or  six  successive 
persons,  of  one  of  whom,  Sir  Thomas  Rokeby,  a homely  saying  is 
recorded,  characteristic,  it  is  said,  of  the  simple  and  sound  integrity 
of  the  man.  When  reproached  by  some  one  for  suffering,  himself 
to  be  served  in  wooden  cups,  he  answered,  “I  had  rather  drink  out 


56 


LIONEL,  DUKE  OP  CLARENCE 


of  wood,  and  pay  gold  and  silver,  than  drink  out  of  gold  and  make 
wooden  payment.” 

The  Earl  of  Desmond  had  so  well  succeeded  in  ingratiating  him- 
self with  the  King,  that  he  was  appointed  Lord  Justice  of  Ireland 
for  life,  in  1355 ; which  honor,  however,  he  survived  only  about 
five  months. 

In  the  time  of  his  successor,  Sir  Thomas  Rokeby,  who  resumed, 
on  the  death  of  Desmond,  the  helm  of  the  state,  an  important  writ 
was  issued,  ordering  that  for  the  future,  the  Parliament  of  Ireland 
should  take  cognizance  of  errors  in  the  King’s  courts  there,  instead 
of,  as  hitherto  carrying  the  cases  to  England.  This  useful  writ 
was  iollowed  afterwards  by  a series  of  judicious  ordinances  for  the 
better  government  of  the  church  and  state  of  Ireland.  It  was  dur- 
ing Rokeby’s  second  administration,  it  is  believed,  that  the  crown 
thought  fit  to  restore  all  the  estates  and  jurisdictions  which  it  had 
resumed. 

During  the  administration  of  James,  Earl  of  Ormond,  (who  was 
grand  son  of  King  Edward  I.,)  the  system  of  legal  warfare  against 
Irish  natives  was  further  shown  by  the  issue  of  a mandate  ordering 
that  no  mere  Irishman”  should  be  made  a mayor,  or  bailiff,  or  other 
officer  of  any  town  within  the  English  dominion  ; nor  be  received, 
through  any  motives  of  consanguinity,  affinity,  or  other  causes,  into 
holy  orders,  nor  be  advanced  to  any  ecclesiastical  benefice  or  pro- 
motion. A modification  of  this  severe  edict  took  place  in  the  follow- 
ing year. 

The  Earl  of  Ormond  having  been  called  for  a short  time  to 
England,  the  office  of  Lord  Justice  was  meanwhile  held  by  the 
Earl  of  Kildare,  with  the  usual  salary  of  five  hundred  pounds  per 
annum , out  of  which  he  had  to  maintain  nineteen  horsemen,  be- 
sides himself. 

In  the  year  1361,  King  Edward  announced  his  intention  to  send 
as  deputy  to  Ireland,  his  son  Lionel,  Duke  of  Clarence.  This  young 
Prince,  who  married  the  daughter,  as  we  have  seen,  of  the  late  Earl 
of  Ulster,  had  become,  in  her  right,  possessed  of  that  Earldom,  to- 
gether with  the  Lordship  of  Connaught.  To  maintain  the  King’s 
power  in  Ireland,  Edward  summoned  all  persons  holding  posses- 
sions there,  to  appear  before  him  and  his  Council,  either  personally 
or  by  proxy,  and  concert  measures  for  the  preservation  and  defence 
of  that  realm.  Among  the  absentees  required  to  contribute  on  this 


APPOINTED  LORD  DEPUTY  OF  IRELAND. 


57 


occasion,  to  the  raising  of  a military  force  were  Maria,  Countess  of 
Norfolk ; Agnes,  Countess  of  Pembroke  ; Margery  De  Roos  ; Anna 
Le  Despenser,  and  several  other  great  ladies. 

After  all  this  show  of  preparation,  the  army  which  accompanied 
Lionel  to  Ireland  consisted  only  of  fifteen  hundred  men.  The 
Earl  of  Ormond  with  other  distinguished  noblemen  and  knights 
were  also  attached  to  the  service  of  the  Duke  on  this  occasion  ; and 
the  highest  expectations  were  formed  of  the  benefits  that  were  to 
follow  from  the  new  government.  By  one  fatal  error  all  these  well 
grounded  hopes  were  disappointed.  The  youthful  Duke  was  sur- 
rounded by  men  of  English  birth,  who  encouraged  his  prejudices, 
then  so  common  among  his  countrymen,  against  the  old  English 
settlers,  and  induced  him  to  slight  the  lords  of  the  Pale  ; these 
haughty  nobles,  of  course,  refused  to  give  him  the  least  assistance 
in  his  military  operations.  Left  to  the  guidance  of  his  own  inexpe- 
rienced followers,  Lionel  marched  against  O'Brian  of  Thomond, 
and  from  his  ignorance  of  the  country,  he  was  soon  involved  in  dif- 
ficulties, resulting  in  the  loss  of  many  of  his  troops.  Perceiving  how 
hopeless,  therefore,  was  any  endeavor  to  dispense  with  the  aid  of 
the  Anglo-Irish,  he  was  reduced  to  the  mortifying  necessity  of  in- 
viting and  requiring  them  to  join  his  standard.  As  they  were  too 
deeply  interested  in  his  success  to  regard  punctilio,  they  ranged 
themselves  under  his  banner,  and  by  this  union  the  Munster  Chief- 
tain’s force  was  totally  dispersed. 

Returning  to  Dublin,  after  this  success,  the  Prince  conferred  the 
honor  of  knighthood  upon  many  of  his  followers,  both  of  the  new 
and  the  old  English  race.  After  he  had  held,  for  nearly  three  years, 
the  office  of  Lord  Lieutenant,  the  Duke  returned  to  England,  in 
1364,  without  having  gained  any  important  advantages  over  the 
natives,  or  enlarged  the  scanty  boundaries  of  the  English  power. 

In  the  course  of  the  three  following  years,  the  Duke  of  Clarence 
was  twice  again  entrusted  with  the  same  office.  It  was  during  his 
last  administration,  in  1367,  that  the  memorable  Parliament  was 
held  at  Kilkenny,  in  which  the  two  estates,  as  we  are  told,  sat  to- 
gether, and  which  passed  the  celebrated  act,  generally  known  by 
the  name  of  the  Statute  of  Kilkenny.  This  remarkable  ordinance, 
though  directed  chiefly  against  those  old  English,  or,  more  properly, 
Anglo-Irish,  who  had  adopted  the  laws  and  customs  of  the  natives, 
contains,  also,  in  reference  to  the  latter,  some  enactments  full  of  that 


58 


MEMORABLE  STATUTE  OF  KILKENNY. 


jealous  and  penal  spirit  which  continued,  for  centuries  after,  to  per- 
vade and  infect  the  whole  course  of  English  legislation  respecting 
Ireland.  The  following  are  the  principal  provisions  of  this  statute  : 
That  intermarriages  with  the  natives,  or  any  connection  with  them 
in  the  way  of  fostering  or  gossipred,  (compaternity,)  should  be  con- 
sidered and  punished  as  high  treason ; that  any  man,  of  English 
race,  assuming  an  Irish  name,  or  using  the  Irish  language,  apparel, 
or  customs,  should  forfeit  all  his  lands  and  tenements  ; that  to  adopt 
or  submit  to  the  Brehon  law,  was  treason  ; that,  without  the  permis- 
sion of  the  government,  the  English  should  not  make  war  upon  the 
natives ; that  the  English  should  not  permit  the  Irish  to  pasture  or 
graze  upon  their  lands,  nor  admit  them  to  any  ecclesiastical  bene- 
fices or  religious  houses,  nor  entertain  their  minstrels,  rhymers,  or 
news-tellers.  There  were,  also,  enactments  against  the  oppressive 
tax  of  coigne  and  livery  ; against  the  improper  use  made  of  royal 
franchises  and  liberties,  in  allowing  them  to  be  sanctuaries  for  male- 
factors, and  one  or  two  other  such  manifest  abuses. 

Such  arbitrary  measures  as  these  are,  in  general,  for  the  time7 
efficacious,  whatever  reaction  their  insolent  defiance  of  the  laws  of 
nature  and  justice  must  ultimately  provoke.  Combined  with  the 
presence  of  the  royal  governor,  so  calming  an  effect  did  this  rigor- 
ous statute  produce,  that,  from  thenceforth,  the  King’s  writ  ran  in 
Ulster  and  Connaught,  and  the  revenues  of  both  those  provinces 
were-  regularly  accounted  for  in  the  exchequer. 

Throughout  the  remainder  of  this  long  reign,  there  occur  few 
events  deserving  of  notice.  After  closing  the  session  of  his  Parlia- 
ment, the  Duke  of  Clarence  returned  to  England.  During  the  gov- 
ernment of  one  of  his  successors,  the  public  tranquillity  which 
had  for  some  time  prevailed,  was  interrupted  by  insurrections  in 
Leinster,  which,  however,  were  soon  suppressed. 

A proof  of  the  progress  made  by  the  Irish  “ rebels,”  as  they  were 
styled,  in  recovering  their  patrimonial  lands,  is  afforded  in  a writ 
issued  in  1373,  by  the  King,  in  consequence  of  a petition  addressed 
to  him  by  the  English  settlers,  praying  relief  from  the  payment  of 
scutage  “on  all  those  lands  of  which  the  Irish  enemy  had  despoiled 
them.” 

In  the  year  1376,  a Parliament  was  called,  by  James,  the  second 
Earl  of  Ormond,  who  was  then  Lord  Justice,  to  provide  for  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  Government,  but  refused  to  grant  the  supplies.  In 


IRISH  DEPUTIES  SENT  TO  ENGLAND.  59 

this  emergency,  writs  were  issued  to  the  Bishops  and  the  Commons, 
requiring  them  to  choose  representatives  to  be  sent  to  the  Parlia- 
ment of  England,  there  to  consult  and  agree  with  the  King  and  his 
Council  on  the  affairs  of  Ireland.  The  Bishops  were  directed  to 
send  over  two  of  the  clergy  from  every  diocess  : the  Commons  were 
ordered  to  send  two  Representatives  from  each  county,  and  two> 
Burgesses  from  each  city  and  borough.  In  complying,  reluctantly, 
with  this  order  of  the  crown,  (which  may  be  said  to  have  formed  a 
precedent,  in  some  degree,  for  the  Union  of  1S00,)  the  clergy,  no- 
bles, and  commons,  declare  that,  according  to  the  rights,  laws,  and 
customs  of  the  land  of  Ireland,  from  the  time  of  the  conquest  thereof, 
they  never  have  been  bound  to  elect  or  send  any  persons  out  of  the 
said  land  to  Parliaments  or  Councils,  held  in  England,  for  any  such 
purposes  as  the  writ  requires. 

The  deputies  went  over  and  assembled  at  Westminster ; but,  as 
they  had  no  authority  to  grant  subsidies,  and  the  King  wanted  mo- 
ney, their  debates  were  a mere  idle  form,  and  they  soon  separated. 

Among  the  last  notices,  respecting  Ireland,  that  occur  in  the  re- 
cords of  this  reign,  a curious  entry  in  the  Issue  Roll,  for  the  year 
1376,  may,  for  its  quiet  significance,  deserve  to  be  noticed:  Richard 
Dere  and  William  Stapolyn  came  over  to  England  to  inform  the 
King  how  very  badly  Ireland  was  governed.  The  King  ordered 
them  to  be  paid  ten  pounds  for  their  trouble. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

EVENTS  IN  IRELAND,  DURING  THE  CIVIL  WARS  BETWEEN  THE 

HOUSES  OF  YORK  AND  LANCASTER— FROM  1377  TO  14S3 

OR  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  SIN  YEARS. 


The  limits  of  this  work  will  compel  us  to  pass  rapidly  over  many 
interesting  periods  in  Irish  history,  touching  only  upon  the  most 
prominent  political  events.  The  preceding  chapters,  which  we 
have  occupied  with  circumstances  attending  the  reigns  of  the  first 
English  Kings  of  Ireland  could  hardly  have  been  more  briefly  des- 


60 


ACT  AGAINST  ABSENTEES,  IN  1379. 


patched,  without  doing  injustice  to  the  demands  of  the  subject.  It 
was  in  fact  in  these  very  times,  and  more  especially  during  the 
reign  of  Edward  111.,  that  the  foundations  were  laid  of  that  mon- 
strous system  of  misgovernment  in  Ireland  to  which  no  parallel 
exists  in  the  history  of  the  whole  civilized  world  ; — its  dark  and 
towering  iniquity  having  projected  its  shadow  so  far  forward  as 
even  to  the  times  immediately  bordering  upon  our  own. 

Enough,  however,  has,  I trust,  been  related  of  these  few  eventful 
reigns  to  convey  a clear  notion  of  the  spirit  of  the  law  and  its  ad- 
ministration during  that  period,  as  well  as  of  the  condition  of  the 
country,  in  consequence  of  that  spirit ; and  likewise  to  show  that,  as 
great  power  may  be  administered  without  tyranny,  so  is  it  possible 
for  enormous  tyranny  to  exist  without  any  real  power. 

On  the  death  of  Edward  III.,  in  1377,  after  a reign  of  fifty  years, 
the  crown  devolved,  without  question  or  contest,  to  his  grand  son, 
Richard  of  Bordeaux,  (Richard  II.,)  son  and  heir  of  the  Black  Prince ; 
and  the  young  King  being  then  but  in  his  eleventh  year,  a Council 
of  Regency  was  chosen,  to  act  during  his  minority. 

An  act  or  ordinance  against  absenteeism  was  passed  in  the  year 
1379.  By  this  measure — the  first  ever  enacted  on  the  subject,  and 
passed  by  the  Parliament  of  England,  in  consequence  of  a petition 
from  Ireland, — it  was  ordained  that  all  who  possessed  lands,  rents, 
or  offices  in  that  kingdom,  should  forthwith  repair  thither  and  be- 
come residents,  for  the  purpose  of  watching  and  defending  them ; 
or  in  case  that  they  could  allege  any  sufficient  cause  for  their  ab- 
sence, they  were  then  to  send^  or  find  in  that  country  responsible 
persons  to  act  as  their  deputies,  and  defend  their  possessions  ; other- 
wise two-thirds  of  their  Irish  revenues  were  to  be  contributed  by 
them  towards  that  object.  Some  exceptions  were  made  to  this  law 
in  favor  of  persons  in  the  King’s  service,  of  students  in  the  Univer- 
sities, and  others  specified.  Another  step,  with  a view  to  reforma- 
tion, was  the  appointment  of  Sir  Nicholas  Dagworth  to  proceed  to 
Ireland,  furnished  with  instructions  and  powers  to  survey  the  pos- 
sessions of  the  crown,  and  call  to  account  the  officers  of  the  Irish 
revenue.  About  the  same  time  leave  was  granted  by  the  King,  in 
consequence  of  a petition  to  that  effect,  for  free  trade  in  wines  and 
other  merchandise,  between  Ireland  and  Portugal.  The  King  also 
gave  liberty  to  his  Irish  subjects  to  work  mines,  paying  him  a ninth, 
and  to  coin  money. 


NAVAL  CONTEST  ON  THE  IRISH  COAST. 


61 


In  1380,  Edmund  Mortimer,  Earl  of  March  and  Ulster,  and  son 
of  Lionel,  Duke  of  Clarence,  was  sent  to  Ireland  as  Lord  Lieuten- 
ant; and  on  his  death,  in  the  second  year  of  his  government,  the 
Prelates,  Magnates,  and  Commons  of  the  realm  were  summoned  to 
meet  at  Cork,  for  the  purpose  of  electing  a successor  to  the  vacant 
office  ; and  the  choice  falling  upon  John  Colton,  then  Chancellor  of 
Ireland,  he  was  raised  to  the  office  of  Lord  Justice.  He  held  the 
office  but  a few  weeks,  Roger,  son  of  the  late  Earl  of  March  being 
appointed,  and  as  he  was  a minor,  his  uncle,  Thomas  Mortimer, 
acted  as  Lord  Deputy. 

The  Irish  coasts  were,  about  this  time,  infested  by  the  gallies  of 
France  and  Spain,  and  the  English  navy  was  called  out  to  oppose 
them  ; the  hostile  fleets  met  in  the  harbor  of  Kinsale,  and  the  French 
and  Spaniards  were  defeated,  with  the  loss  of  four  hundred  men 
and  a great  number  of  barges,  by  a combined  force  of  English  and 
Irish. 

Richard  II.  now  gave  an  extraordinary  proof  of  his  weakness  and 
folly,  by  creating  his  young  favorite,  Robert  De  Yere,  Earl  of  Ox- 
ford, Marquis  of.  Dublin,  and  by  the  same  patent  granting  to  him 
the  entire  dominion  of  Ireland,  to  be  held  of  the  crown  by  liege 
homage,  excepting  those  lands  and  cities  formerly  reserved  to  the 
crown,  and  those  hereditary  to  the  Nobles  and  Barons  of  Ireland; 
for  which  the  Earl  was  bound,  as  soon  as  he  could  complete  the 
conquest  of  Ireland,  to  pay  into  the  English  exchequer,  five  hun- 
dred marks  annually  during  his  life.  In  every  other  particular  he 
had  the  entire  government,  with  power  to  appoint  all  .officers  of 
state  and  justice.  The  English  Parliament,  doubtless  with  the 
view  of  ridding  themselves  of  the  favorite’s  presence,  confirmed  the 
grant,  and  allotted  the  sum  of  thirty  thousand  marks  for  the  intended 
expedition  to  Ireland,  besides  a force  of  five  hundred  men  at  arms 
and  one  thousand  archers. 

Accompanied  by  Richard  himself,  De  Yere  proceeded  as  far  as 
Wales  on  his  way  to  Ireland,  but  when  about  to  part  from  him,  the 
young  King  found  his  affection  for  his  friend  was  too  strong  to  bear 
a separation,  and  abandoned  the  intention  of  sending  him  to  lie- 
land,  appointing  Sir  John  Stanley,  Lord  Deputy  of  the  realm.  He 
was  succeeded  by  the  Earl  of  Ormond,  and  both  of  these  officers 
acted  with  vigor  and  success  while  in  power,  defeating  the  natives 
in  several  insurrections.  Notwithstanding  these  partial  successes 
9 


62 


RICHARD  II.  VISITS  IRELAND. 


the  country  was  still  a prey  to  all  the  evils  of  war,  and  the  subsidies 
demanded  from  the  English  Parliament  for  the  use  of  Ireland,  pro- 
duced continual  remonstrances. 

The  Duke  of  Gloucester,  the  King’s  uncle,  a Prince  who  com- 
bined in  himself  both  the  high  rank  to  which  the  Irish  were  sup- 
posed to  be  partial,  and  the  vigor  of  character  fitted  for  supreme 
command,  consented  to  accept  the  office  of  Lord  Lieutenant ; but 
while  preparing  to  embark,  in  1393,  with  an  army,  for  the  seat  of 
his  government,  a royal  order  reached  him,  countermanding  his 
departure,  and  acquainting  him  with  the  King’s  intention  to  con- 
duct an  expedition  into  Ireland. 

The  next  year,  1394,  Richard  landed  at  Waterford  with  four 
thousand  men  at  arms  and  thirty  thousand  archers,  attended  by 
the  Duke  of  Gloucester,  the  Earls  of  Nottingham  and  Rutland, 
Lord  Piercy  and  other  distinguished  personages.  With  such  a 
force  to  command  submission,  there  was  only  wanting  sufficient 
wisdom  to  lay  the  foundation  of  social  improvement,  by  extending 
the  protection  of  English  law  to  the  whole  native  population.  Had 
such  a course  of  policy  been  adopted  by  Richard,  .it  is  fair  to  con- 
clude, from  the  petitions  addressed  to  some  of  his  predecessors,  pray- 
ing for  the  benefits  of  the  English  law,  that  a measure  granting  this 
desired  boon  to  the  whole  kingdom,  would  have  been  hailed  with 
joy  and  thankfulness  by  the  great  mass  of  the  Irish  people,  and 

might  have  abridged,  by  many  centuries,  the  dominion  of  anarchy 
in  Ihat  realm. 

But  such,  unluckily,  was  not  the  policy  which  this  young  mon- 
arch was  far-sighted  enough  to  adopt.  A merely  outward  show  of 
submission  and  allegiance,  such  as  had  been  proffered  to  his  pro- 
progenitors, Henry  II.  and  John,  was  all  that  his  superficial  and 
hasty  ambition  aimed  at;  and  this  the  present  race  of  Chieftains 
were  fully  as  ready  to  proffer  and  promise  as  their  ancestors.  On 
the  first  alarm  of  his  arrival,  at  the  head  of  so  numerous  a force,  the 
natives  had  fled  to  their  natural  fastnesses.  But  all  intention  of 
offering  resistance  was  soon  abandoned  ; and,  it  being  understood 
that  the  submission  of  the  Chieftains  would  be  graciously  received, 
O’Neill  and  other  Irish  Lords  of  Ulster  met  the  King  at  Drogheda, 
and  there  did  homage  and  swore  fealty,  with  the  usual  solemnities. 
Their  example  was  followed  by  Chiefs  in  other  parts  of  Ireland. 
In  return  for  this  surrender  to  the  English  King,  they  were  to  be 


THE  KING’S  SECOND  EXPEDITION. 


63 


taken  into  the  pay  of  the  crown,  and  receive  pensions  during  their 
lives,  together  with  the  inheritance  of  all  such  territories  as  they  could 
seize  from  the  rebels  in  other  parts  of  the  realm.  Upon  some  of 
these  descendants  of  Kings,  Richard  conferred  the  honor  of  knight- 
hood, in  the  Cathedral  of  Dublin,  and  the  ceremony  was  followed 
by  a great  banquet,  at  which  the  Irish  Chiefs  attended  in  robes  of 
state,  and  sat  with  King  Richard  at  his  table. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  parade  Richard  forgot  not  the  higher  du- 
ties of  his  station,  but  commenced  a system  of  reform  which  showed 
that  he  was  fairly  disposed,  had  the  state  of  his  English  dominions 
allowed  him  leisure,  to  correct  and  remove  the  true  causes  of  Ire- 
land’s misrule. 

But  these  wise  and  useful  projects  were  suddenly  interrupted  by 
the  necessity  of  his  speedy  return  to  England,  to  which  he  was 
urged  by  his  Council,  on  account  of  the  difficulties  there.  He, 
therefore,  returned  in  the  summer  of  1395,  after  a residence  of  nine 
months,  leaving  his  young  kinsman,  Roger  Mortimer,  Earl  of  March, 
with  ample  powers  to  act  as  his  Lieutenant. 

It  soon  became  manifest  that  the  Irish  Chieftains  were  insincere 
in  their  late  submission  ; for  scarcely  had  the  King  sailed,  with  his 
forces,  from  the  shore,  when  fierce  incursions  were  made  into  the 
borders  of  the  Pale.  The  natives,  however,  were  repulsed,  with 
great  slaughter,  by  the  English  Lords,  who  supplied  by  valor  what 
they  wanted  in  numbers.  Soon  after  this,  the  young  Yiceroy,  the 
Earl  of  March,  while  engaged  in  a conflict  with  the  sept  of  the 
O’Byrnes,  was  slain. 

The  King,  determined  to  avenge  his  death,  made  preparations 
for  a second  expedition  to  Ireland,  and  landed  at  Waterford,  in 
1399.  At  the  head  of  his  army,  he  immediately  marched  against 
MacMorrough,  the  principal  Irish  Chieftain,  who  hastily  retreated 
to  his  woods,  on  the  approach  of  the  English,  and  completely  foiled 
their  attempts.  Richard,  after  receiving  the  submissions  of  some 
other  Chiefs,  was  forced  to  retreat.  MacMorrough  thought  this 
was  a favorable  opportunity  for  making  terms,  and  proposed  a con- 
ference, in  which  he  was  met  by  the  Earl  of  Gloucester,  on  the  part 
of  the  King.  MacMorrough,  refusing  to  be  bound  by  any  condi- 
tions, though  he  offered  to  submit,  the  conference  was  broken  off. 
The  English  monarch  returned  to  Dublin  with  his  army,  and  vowed 
never  to  depart  out  of  Ireland  until  he  had  MacMorrough,  living  or 


64 


ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  IV. 


dead,  in  his  hands.  He  proclaimed,  also,  that  whoever  would  de- 
liver him  into  his  power,  dead  or  alive,  should  receive  one  hundred 

marks  of  gold. 

But  the  unfortunate  monarch’s  own  doom  was  fast  approaching. 
After  a stay  of  six  weeks  in  Dublin,  he  received  intelligence  that 
Henry  of  Bolingbroke,  Duke  of  Lancaster,  had  landed  in  England, 
and  that  many  of  the  most  powerful  of  the  English  Barons,  with  a 
large  portion  of  the  people,  were  supporting  his  usurpation  and  pre- 
tensions to  the  throne.  When  Richard  arrived  in  England,  he 
soon  found  that  the  last  feeble  chance  of  preserving  either  his  throne 
or  life  had  vanished.  No  acts  of  the  Irish  Parliament,  during  his 
reign,  are  to  be  found  in  the  Statute  Book. 

By  Henry’s  election,  in  1399,  to  the  throne  of  England — for  such 
was  virtually  the  title  of  Henry  IV.  to  the  crown, — the  seeds  were 
sown  of  those  long  and  sanguinary  wars  between  the  two  rivals  of 
York  and  Lancaster,  of  which  the  whole  history  is  as  confused  and 
uncertain  as  the  known  results  were  bloody,  treacherous,  and  dis- 
graceful. One  salutafy  consequence,  however,  of  these  contests 
was  the  gradual  extension  of  the  powers  of  Parliament,  and  those 
wholesome  restraints  upon  the  royal  authority,  which  the  Com- 
mons were  enabled  to  urge  and  impose.  It  was,  unfortunately, 
only  in  the  evils  of  such  a struggle  that  the  usual  destinies  of  Ire- 
land allowed  her  to  have  any  share. 

On  the  accession  of  Henry,  the  Scots  had  declared  war  against  him, 
and  now  made  several  descents  on  the  Irish  coasts.  The  arrival 
of  the  young  Duke  of  Lancaster,  as  Lord  Lieutenant,  accompanied 
by  a strong  force,  promised  some  tranquillity.  Several  wholesome 
regulations  were  made  ; many  Chieftains  renewed  their  submissions  ; 
and  a Parliament  was  convened  to  devise  means  for  repelling  the 
Scottish  invaders.  The  County  of  Dublin  granted  a subsidy  ; troops 
were  collected,  and  the  war  carried  to  the  coasts  of  Scotland.  The 
Duke  of  Lancaster  returned  to  England  in  1409,  leaving  his  bro- 
ther, Thomas  Butler,  the  Prior  of  Kilmainham,  his  deputy.  In  the 
following  year,  a Parliament  was  held,  at  Dublin,  which  made  it 
treason  to  exact  coigne  and  livery. 

No  other  event,  deserving  of  particular  notice,  occurred  in  this 
reign,  which  was  brought  to  a close  by  Henry’s  death,  at  Westmin- 
ster, in  1413. 


IRISH  EXCLUDED  FROM  CHURCH  OFFICES. 


65 


The  power  of  the  Irish  was  now  sufficient  to  compel  the  English 
to  pay  an  annual  stipend,  afterwards  called  “Black  Rent,”  to  pur- 
chase the  protection  of  the  native  Chieftains. 

Barren  as  are  the  materials  of  Irish  history,  during  the  time  of 
Henry  IV.,  they  are  even  more  trivial  and  void  of  interest  in 
the  reign  of  his  successor,  Henry  V.,  who,  although  he  had  been 
invested  with  the  honor  of  Knighthood,  in  Ireland,  having  there 
made  his  first  essay  in  arms,  under  his  cousin,  Richard  II.,  does  not 
appear  to  have  afterwards  turned  his  attention  to  the  affairs  of  that 
kingdom. 

A succession  of  conflicts  took  place  between  the  English  and  the 
natives,  attended  with  the  usual  vicissitudes  of  their  warfare  on  both 
sides. 

In  1417,  the  King’s  subjects  in  Ireland  petitioned  the  English 
Parliament  that,  as  Ireland  was  divided  into  two  nations,  the  Eng- 
lish and  the  Irish,  the  latter  of  whom  were  the  King’s  enemies,  in 
future,  no  Irishman  should  be  presented  lo  any  ecclesiastical  office 
or  benefice ; and  that  no  native  bishops  should  bring  with  them  to 
Parliaments  or  Councils,  any  Irish  servant.  This  petition  received 
from  the  English  Parliament  a ready  assent. 

A small  body  of  native  Irish  troops,  summoned  by  the  King  to 
join  him  in  Normandy,  on  his  second  invasion  of  France,  achieved 
feats  of  valor,  for  which  they  received  high  commendations. 

Henry  V.  died  in  1422,  at  the  age  of  thirty-four  ; and,  in  the  tenth 
year  of  his  reign,  leaving  his  son,  then  an  infant,  [Henry  VI.,]  his 
successor  to  the  throne.  The  British  Parliament  appointed  the 
Dukes  of  Bedford  and  Gloucester,  protectors,  assisted  by  a Council 
to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  kingdoms  of  England  and  France. 

In  turning,  wearily,  over  the  records  of  these  rude  times,  the  eye 
is  occasionally  refreshed  by  glimpses  of  a somewhat  more  civilized 
state  of  existence,  in  those  grants  of  leave  of  absence  accorded  to 
particular  individuals,  to  enable  them  to  visit,  for  the  purposes  of 
study,  the  schools  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  Others  proceeded, 
with  the  view  of  learning  the  legal  profession,  to  London  ; and  here 
the  distaste  avowed  so  insultingly  by  the  English  towards  all  con- 
nected with  Ireland, — a feeling  extended  to  those  of  their  own  race 
born  in  that  country, — was  most  strongly  and  illiberally  displayed. 


66 


ENGLISH  LAWS  AGAINST  IRISHMEN. 


By  a stretch  of  tyranny,  unknown  under  former  reigns,  the  Anglo- 
Irish  law  students  were  now  excluded  from  the  Inns  of  Court. 

The  old  offence,  indeed,  of  absenteeism  had  begun  to  be  regarded 
in  somewhat  a new  point  of  view;  for,  whereas,  formerly,  those 
offending  in  this  respect  were  blamed  merely  for  their  absence  from 
Ireland,  the  offence  now  most  strongly  protested  against,  was  their 
presence  in  England.  In  some  enactments  on  the  subject,  during 
the  reign  of  Henry  V.,  the  effects  of  the  practice  are  viewed  in  both 
these  lights.  Thus,  in  the  year  1413,  it  was  enacted  by  the  King 
and  Parliament,  that,  “for  the  peace  and  quietness  of  England,  and 
the  increase  and  prosperity  of  Ireland,  all  Irishmen,  Irish  clerks, 
beggars,  &.c.,  should  be  removed,  out  of  England,  before  All  Saints 
following ; with  the  exception  of  graduates  in  schools,  sergeants, 
and  apprentices  at  law,  &c.”  After  a few  more  exceptions,  it  is 
added,  further,  that  all  Irishmen  holding  offices  or  benefices  in  Ire- 
land, shall  dwell  there,  for  the  defence  of  the  land. 

We  have  already  had  occasion  to  remark,  as  one  of  the  anomalies 
that  mark  the  destiny  of  this  nation,  how  small  is  the  portion  of 
Ireland’s  history  that  relates  to  the  affairs  of  the  Irish  people  them- 
selves. Supplanted,  as  the  indigenous  Irish  were,  on  their  own  soil, 
by  strangers,  the  task  of  dictating  as  well  their  history  as  their  laws 
fell  early  into  foreign  hands.  In  the  course  of  time,  however,  a new 
race  and  new  relationships  sprang  up,  from  the  connexions  by  mar- 
riao-e  and  otherwise,  of  the  English  colonists  and  the  natives,  which 
worked  a change,  even  more  in  the  political  than  in  the  social  con- 
dition of  the  country.  The  conquerors,  yielding  to  these  natural 
ties,  were,  in  their  turn,  conquered  by  the  force  of  the  national  spi- 
rit, and  became,  as  was  said  in  later  times,  even  more  Irish  than  the 
Irish  themselves.  Even  English  gentlewomen  had  begun  to  receive, 
without  any  repugnance,  the  tender  addresses  of  the  “ Irish  enemy 
and  it  appears  that  the  fierce  and  formidable  Chief,  Art  MacMor- 
rough,  in  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  could  boast  of  an  English  heiress 
for  his  consort. 

Brought  up,  in  general,  by  Irish  nurses,  and  consorting,  from 
early  childhood,  with  their  foster-brethren,  it  was  not  to  be  expected 
that  the  sons  of  the  middle  class  of  the  English  should  remain  un- 
influenced by  examples  so  constantly  acting  upon  them ; and  the 
force  of  which,  through  every  succeeding  generation,  must  have  in- 
creased. Such  were,  in  fact,  the  effects  that  naturally  began  to 


ROMANTIC  MARRIAGE  OF  THE  EARL  OF  DESMOND.  67 

unfold  themselves  among  the  descendants  of  the  English  lords.  At 
the  period  we  have  now  reached,  this  proud  and  high-spirited  race, 
owing  to  the  distraction  of  the  attention  of  the  English  government 
to  other  objects,  had  attained  an  extent  of  ascendancy  no  less  preju- 
dicial to  the  dignity  and  interests  of  the  crown,  than  it  was  oppres- 
sive to  the  people  subjected  to  their  dominion. 

Of  these  great  lords,  the  Earl  of  Ormond,  who  held  the  office  of 
Lord  Lieutenant  at  the  time  of  the  accession  of  Henry  YI.,  was  one 
of  the  most  active  and  powerful ; and  a factious  feud  between  him 
and  the  Talbots,  kept  alive,  as  it  was,  and  diffused  by  a multitude 
of  adherents  on  both  sides,  continued  to  disturb  the  public  Councils 
through  a great  part  of  this  reign.  Soon  after  Henry’s  accession, 
the  office  of  Lord  Lieutenant  was  resigned  by  Ormond  to  Edward 
Mortimer,  Earl  of  March  and  Ulster.  This  Prince  of  the  royal 
blood,  from  whose  administration  much  expectation  might  have 
been  formed  that  it  would  have  proved  popular  and  efficient,  arrived 
in  Ireland  1423,  but  died  of  the  plague,  the  following  year,  in  his 
own  castle  at  Trim.  Elis  successor  was  the  illustrious  Lord  Talbot, 
who  afterwards  won  for  himself,  in  the  French  wars,  the  title  of 
the  English  Achilles. 

Among  those  powerful  Anglo-Irish  lords  who,  by  their  own  ex- 
tortion, and  the  large  grants  of  lands  and  liberties  so  recklessly 
lavished  upon  them  by  the  crown,  had  been  raised  into  so  many  in- 
dependent Counts  Palatine,  the  Earl  of  Desmond  held,  at  this  time., 
the  most  prominent  station.  This  Lord  was  uncle  and  successor  to 
Thomas,  the  sixth  Earl  of  Desmond,  whose  romantic  marriage  and 
subsequent  fate  show  how  high,  in  those  times,  were  the  notions 
entertained  of  noble  birth.  Returning,  late  one  evening,  from  hunt- 
ing, the  young  lord,  finding  himself  benighted,  sought  shelter  under 
the  roof  of  one  of  his  tenants,  near  Abbeyfeal ; and  seeing,  for 
the  first  time,  his  host’s  daughter,  the  beautiful  Catharine  MacCor- 
mac,  became  so  enamoured  of  her  charms,  that  lie  soon  after  mar- 
ried her.  So  dishonoring  to  the  high  blood  of  the  Desmonds  was 
this  alliance  considered,  that  it  drew  down  upon  him  the  anger  and 
enmity  of  all  his  family.  Friends,  followers,  and  tenants  at  once 
abandoned  him,  and  even  assisted  his  uncle,  James,  according  to 
the  old  Irish  custom,  to  expel  him  from  his  estates,  and  force  him 
to  surrender  the  Earldom.  Thus  persecuted,  the  unhappy  young 
Lord  retired  to  Rouen,  in  Normandy,  where  he  died,  in  the  year 


68 


LAWS  AGAINST  IRISH  EMIGRATION. 


1420.  and  was  buried  in  a Convent  of  Friars  preachers,  at  Paris, — 
the  King  of  England,  (Henry  V.,  who  was  then  in  France,)  it  is 
added,  attending  his  funeral. 

In  addition  to  his  other  princely  possessions,  James,  Earl  of  Des- 
mond, received,  in  1439,  a grant,  from  Robert  Fitz  Geoffry  Cogan, 
of  all  his  lands  in  Ireland, — being  no  less  than  half  of  what  was 
then  called  the  Kingdom  of  Cork. 

Yvbile  thus  this  lord  and  a few  other  Anglo-Irish  nobles  were 
extending  enormously  their  power  and  wealth,  the  King’s  govern- 
ment was  fast  declining,  as  well  in  revenue  as  in  influence  and 
strength.  In  1442,  Sir  Thomas  Stanley,  when  Lord  Lieutenant, 
brought  to  England  a most  wretched  account  of  the  state  of  affairs 
from  the  Privy  Council,  wherein,  intreating  the  King  himself  would 
come  to  Ireland,  they  added  that  his  presence  would  be  a sovereign 
comfort  to  his  people,  and  the  surest  remedy  for  all  the  evils  of 
which  they  complained. 

The  influx  of  the  Irish  into  England  continued,  in  both  coun- 
tries, to  be  a constant  subject  of  complaint  and  legislation  ; and,  in 
consequence  of  a petition  to  the  King,  presented  by  the  English 
House  of  Commons,  representing  the  manifold  crimes,  of  every  de- 
scription, committed  by  the  Irish  in  England  ; it  was  enacted,  that 
all  persons  born  in  Ireland  should  quit  England  within  a time  lim- 
ited ; exceptions  being  made  in  favor  of  beneficed  clergymen,  grad- 
uates in  either  University,  who  held  lands  in  England,  were  mar- 
ried there,  or  had  English  parents ; and  even  these  to  give  security 
for  their  future  good  behavior.  In  the  year  1438,  likewise,  while  a 
second  law  was  passed  in  England,  obliging  Irishmen  to  return 
home,  there  was  a statute  made  in  Ireland,  to  prevent  the  passage 
of  any  more  of  them  into  England. 

As  a sample  of  the  legislation  of  this  period,  it  is  mentioned,  that 
in  the  Anglo-Irish  Parliament,  held  at  Trim,  in  1447,  it  was  enacted 
that  “any  man  who  does  not  keep  his  upper  lip  shaved,  may  be 
treated  as  an  Irish  enemy.”  (This  act  remained  unrepealed  till 
the  second  year  of  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  or  nearly  two  hundred 
years  after  this  time.)  Another  act  of  the  same  Parliament  was, 
that  “if an  Irishman,  who  is  denizened,  kill  or  rob,  he  may  be  used 
as  an  Irish  enemy,  and  be  slain  on  the  spot.”  Another  enacted,  that 
no  person  should  use  gold  trappings,  horse  furniture,  or  gilded  har- 
ness, except  Knights  or  Prelates. 


DUKE  OF  YORK  APPOINTED  LORD  LIEUTENANT. 


69 


The  practice  of  conferring  the  Lieutenancy  of  Ireland  on  some 
personage  of  royal  blood,  though  hitherto  attended  with  but  little 
advantage,  appears  to  have  been  still  a favorite  experiment ; and 
the  Duke  of  York,  the  lineal  heir  to  the  crown  of  England,  though 
as  yet  his  claim  had  remained  latent,  was  the  personage  selected 
for  that  office.  This  Prince  was  nephew  to  the  late  Earl  of  March, 
who  died  in  Ireland,  as  we  have  mentioned,  at  the  commencement 
of  this  reign,  and  from  whom  he  inherited  the  united  estates  of 
Clarence  and  Ulster,  together  with  the  patrimonial  possessions  of 
the  family  of  March.  Besides  being  Earl  of  Ulster  and  Cork,  he  was 
Lord  of  Connaught,  Clare,  Trim,  and  Meath, — thus  including  in 
his  inheritance,  at  least  a third  part  of  the  kingdom.  He,  however, 
reluctantly  left  what  was  then  considered  the  honorable  field  of 
enterprise  in  France,  to  accept  the  office  of  Viceroy  of  Ireland,  hav- 
ing been  removed  from  hiscomm  and  in  France,  to  make  way  for 
the  Duke  of  Somerset. 

The  Duke  of  York  resolved  to  secure  for  himself  such  a hold  on 
the  warm  affections  of  the  Irish,  as  might  enable  him  to  render 
them  subservient  to  the  advancement  of  his  further  purposes.  He 
also  refused  to  accept  the  office  on  any  but  high  and  advantageous 
terms,  which  were  reduced  to  writing  by  indenture  between  the 
King  and  himself,  and  besides  extending  his  term  to  ten  years,  and 
allowing  him  in  addition  to  the  revenue  ot  the  crown  of  Ireland, 
supplies  of  treasure  also  from  England,  agreed  that  he  might  lease 
the  King’s  lands,  might  place  and  displace  all  officers  as  he  chose, 
might  levy  and  wage  what  number  of  soldiers  he  thought  fit,  and 
appoint  a deputy,  and  return  to  England  at  his  pleasure. 

His  arrival  in  Ireland,  in  1449,  was  attended  with  circumstances 
of  splendor  and  magnificence,  and  followed  by  favorable  conse- 
quences. He  entertained  every  party  with  equal  kindness,  a con- 
scientious sense  of  duty  appearing  to  pervade  the  whole  of  this 
amiable  Prince’s  conduct;  and  the  firm  but  fair  spirit  in  which  he 
dealt  with  the  natives,  treating  them  as  enemies  only  while  they 
resisted,  and  repressing  without  also  insulting  and  trampling  upon 
them,  afforded  an  example  worthy  of  imitation  by  all  succeeding 
governors.  Equally  politic  was  the  Viceroy’s  conduct  towards 
those  Anglo-Irish  lords,  on  the  skilful  management  of  whom  de- 
pended mainly  the  peace  and  well  being  of  the  kingdom.  He 
chose  the  Earls  of  Ormond  and  Desmond  to  be  sponsors  to  his  son, 
10 


70 


AFFAIRS  IN  ENGLAND. — CADES  REBELLION. 


born  in  Dublin,  (George,  afterwards  Duke  of  Clarence,  known  for 
his  short,  stormy  life  and  singular  death  ;)  thus  connecting  himself 
with  those  two  powerful  lords  by  the  tie,  so  sacred  among  the  Irish, 
of  gossipred , and  thereby  furnishing  them  with  an  additional  mo- 
tive for  zeal  and  fidelity  in  his  service. 

But  the  aspect  of  affairs  in  England  had  now  begun  to  foretoken 
events,  in  the  ultimate  issue  of  which  the  future  fortunes  of  the 
House  of  York  were  most  deeply  involved.  The  formidable  in- 
surrection that  had  just  broken  out,  in  1450,  headed  by  an  Irish- 
man named  John  Cade  (familarly  known  as  the  celebrated  Jack 
Cade,)  proposed  for  its  object,  as  some  of  the  conspirators  confessed 
on  the  scaffold,  to  place  Richard,  Duke  of  York,  on  the  throne  of 
England  ; and  by  the  court  it  was  even  imagined  that  this  Prince 
had  secretly  encouraged  Cade’s  rebellion,  in  order  to  sound  the 
feelings  of  the  people,  and  learn  how  far  they  were  likely  to  sup- 
port him  in  his  pretensions  to  the  crown.  Apprised  speedily  of  this 
state  of  affairs  by  some  of  those  friends  he  had  left  to  watch  over 
his  interests,  and  who  were  now  of  opinion  that  he  ought  to  appear 
on  the  scene  in  person,  the  Duke,  without  waiting  to  ask  permis- 
sion, left  his  government  in  the  hands  of  the  Earl  of  Ormond,  and 
landing  in  England,  proceeded,  to  the  great  terror  of  the  court,  to- 
wards London,  having  collected  on  his  way  a retinue  of  about  four 
thousand  men.  He  became,  at  this  time,  apparently  reconciled  to 
the  King. 

The  important  affairs  in  which  this  Prince  was  subseqently  con- 
cerned fall  mostly  within  the  province  of  English  history.  But  as 
he  remained  to  the  last  connected  with  Ireland,  and  still  carried 
with  him  the  good  wishes  and  sympathy  of  her  people,  a few  of 
the  more  important  stages  of  his  course  may  not  irrelevantly  be 
noticed.  At  the  battle  of  St.  Albans,  in  1455,  the  first  of  that  series 
of  sanguinary  conflicts  which  for  thirty  years  after  convulsed 
England,  the  fortune  of  the  day  declared  for  York,  and  the  King 
himself  fell  into  his  hands.  Appointed  twice  Protector  of  the  realm, 
he  does  not  appear  to  have  availed  himself  of  those  opportunities  of 
increasing  and  strengthening  his  own  power. 

The  dispersion  of  the  Yorkists  after  their  defeat  at  Blore  Heath, 
rendered  their  cause  hopeless  for  a time,  and  the  Duke  fled  through 
Wales,  with  his  youngest  son,  to  Ireland,  where  he  was  received 
with  all  that  enthusiasm  which  his  cause  and  character  had  ex- 


IRELAND  ADHERES  TO  THE  HOUSE  OF  YORK. 


71 


cited,  not  only  among  the  people  of  the  Pale,  but  even  in  the  hearts 
of  the  natives  themselves. 

In  the  course  of  the  eight  years  during  which  he  had  been  absent 
from  that  country,  a succession  of  deputies  had  been  appointed  by 
him.  By  most  of  the  governors,  Parliaments  were  held,  of  which 
the  enactments  are  on  record ; but  confined  as  was  now  the  sphere 
of  the  government  of  the  Pale,  the  acts,  except  when  illustrative 
of  the  general  state  of  the  country,  are  little  worthy  of  historical 
notice. 

The  Duke  of  York  was  protected  by  the  Irish  Parliament,  while 
the  English  Parliament  was  passing  an  act  of  attainder  against  him, 
his  Duchess,  and  their  two  sons.  The  former  enacted  a law  de- 
claring that  it  had  ever  been  the  custom  to  entertain  strangers  with 
all  hospitality,  and  that  it  should  be  deemed  high  treason  for  any 
authority  to  disturb  persons  so  supported.  It  was  also  enacted,  by 
the  same,  that  Ireland  was  to  be  governed  only  by  laws  passed  by 
its  own  Parliament — that  no  person  should  be  bound  to  answer 
any  appeal  or  other  matter  out  of  Ireland. 

The  cause  of  the  White  Rose  was  now  manifestly  on  the  eve  of 
triumph,  having  rallied  around  its  banner,  not  merely  the  partizans 
of  the  House  of  York,  but  the  great  bulk  of  the  English  nation. 
The  decisive  battle  of  Northampton,  in  1460,  in  which  the  Lan- 
caster royalists  were  defeated,  and  King  Henry  YI.  made  prisoner, 
recalled  the  Duke  of  York  from  Ireland.  Hastening  to  London, 
where  he  made  his  entry  with  trumpets  sounding,  an  armed  retinue, 
and  a drawn  sword  borne  before  him,  he  presented  himself  to  the 
House  of  Peers,  and  for  the  first  time  advanced  publicly  his  claim 
to  the  crown.  As  he  was  descended  from  Philippa,  only  daughter 
of  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  second  son  of  Edward  III.,  he  stood  in 
the  order  of  succession  before  the  King ; who  was  of  the  lineage  of 
the  Duke  of  Lancaster,  third  son  of  Edward  III. 

The  Peers  pronounced  the  title  of  the  Duke  of  York  to  be  certain 
and  indefeasible,  but  they  proposed,  and  he  agreed  to  the  proposal, 
that  Henry  should  retain  the  crown  during  his  life,  and  that  York 
and  his  heirs  should  succeed  after  Henry’s  death.  The  path  to  the 
throne  now  seemed  to  lie  open  to  him,  if  not  already  at  his  feet, 
when  a desperate  effort  on  the  part  of  Henry’s  Q,ueen,  (Margaret  of 
Anjou,)  to  retrieve  the  fortunes  of  her  husband,  led  to  a battle  near 
Wakefield,  in  which  the  Duke  was  slain.  He  had  under  him  about 


72 


ACCESSION  OF  EDWARD  IV. 


five  thousand  men,  a force  about  one-fourth  only  of  the  numbers 
said  to  have  been  on  the  opposite  side.  Near  three  thousand  of  the 
troops  of  the  Duke,  among  whom  were  many  Irishmen,  who  had 
attended  him  to  England,  fell  in  this  hard  fought  battle. 

Had  this  excellent  Prince,  who  was  killed  in  the  fiftieth  year  of 
his  age,  (in  1460,)  lived  to  ascend  the  throne,  the  knowledge  ac- 
quired by  him  of  the  state  of  Ireland,  and  the  general  respect  enter- 
tained for  his  character  among  the  people,  might  have  enabled  him 
to  spread  the  blessings  of  equal  laws  and  good  government  among 
the  natives.  As  it  was,  so  formidable  had  the  inroads  of  the  Irish 
borderers  become,  that,  instead  of  being  aggressors,  the  proud  colo- 
nists of  the  Pale  had  been  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  standing  on 
the  defensive,  and  one  of  the  many  public  services  rendered  by  the 
Duke,  during  his  lieutenancy,  was  the  erection  of  castles  on  the 
borders  of  Louth,  Meath  and  Kildare,  to  check  the  incursions  of 
the  natives. 

So  small  was  the  portion  of  the  inhabitants  of  Ireland  by  whom 
the  authority  of  English  law  was  now  acknowledged,  that  from  the 
four  small  shires  alone  which  constituted  the  tenantry  of  “the 
Pale”  were  all  the  Lords,  Knights  and  Burgesses  that  composed  its 
Parliament  summoned  ; and  in  no  other  part  of  the  kingdom  did 
the  King’s  writ  run.  These  four  shires,  or  counties,  were  Dublin, 
Louth,  Kildare,  and  Meath, — the  latter  including  West  Meath.  The 
Pale  originally  extended  from  the  town  of  Wicklow,  in  the  south, 
to  the  point  of  Dunluce  in  the  north  of  Ireland; — thus  making 
Louth,  (as  it  was  not  unfrequently  styled,)  the  “the  heart”  of  the 
Pale. 

Numbers  of  the  lords  and  gentry  of  the  Pale  having  accompanied 
the  Duke  of  York  to  England,  (many  of  whom  fell  in  battle,)  the 
natives  availing  themselves  of  the  absence  of  these  great  landed 
lords,  took  forcible  possession  of  several  estates,  which  were  never 
after  recovered  from  them.  The  colonists  of  the  districts  bordering 
upon  the  Irish  were  forced  to  purchase  a precarious  exemption  from 
their  inroads,  by  annual  pensions  to  their  Chiefs. 

Such  was  the  miserable  state  of  weakness,  disorganization,  and 
turbulence  in  udiich  Edward  IV.,  (son  of  the  late  Duke  of  York,) 
found  his  kingdom  of  Ireland,  on  his  accession  to  the  throne.  The 
Earl  of  Kildare  was  chosen,  by  the  Irish  Privy  Council,  to  admin- 
ister the  government  until  a new  Lord  Deputy  was  appointed.  He 


LAWS  AGAINST  THE  IRISH. 


73 


preserved  the  country  tranquil  during  the  brief  struggle  between 
Henry  VI.  and  Edward  IV.,  which  terminated  in  favor  ofthe  latter,  (of 
the  house  of  York.)  One  of  Edward’s  first  acts  was  to  appoint  his 
brother,  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  to  the  government  of  Ireland  ; and 
to  reward  the  fidelity  of  his  adherents  in  that  kingdom,  by  elevating 
the  leaders  to  the  peerage.  Clarence  appointed  Fitz  Eustace,  after- 
wards Lord  Portlester,  his  deputy. 

In  the  year  1463,  the  Earl  of  Desmond  succeeded  Lord  Portles- 
ter, as  deputy  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence  ; and  held  two  Parliaments 
in  the  course  of  his  government,— one  of  which  enacted,  among 
other  measures,  “That  any  body  may  kill  thieves  or  robbers,  or 
any  person  going  to  rob  or  steal,  having  no  faithful  men  of  good 
name  and  in  English  apparel,  in  their  company.”  Also,  “That  the 
Irish,  within  the  English  Pale,  shall  wear  English  habit,  take  Eng- 
lish names,  and  swear  allegiance,  upon  pain  of  forfeiture  of  goods.” 
“ That  English,  and  Irish  speaking  English,  and  living  with  the 
English,  shall  have  an  English  bow  and  arrows,  on  pain  of  two 
pence.” 

The  Earl  of  Desmond,  while  distinguished  by  the  royal  favor, 
and  by  his  influence  and  popularity  among  the  natives  was  destined 
to  a sudden  downfall.  His  successor  as  Lord  Deputy,  Lord  Wor- 
cester, came  from  England  with  strong  prejudices  against  Lords  of 
Irish  birth;  and  his  jealousies  and  suspicions  were  easily  excited 
against  Desmond,  by  the  enemies  of  that  Lord.  At  a Parliament, 
held  at  Drogheda,  in  1467,  the  charge  of  “alliance  with  the  Irish,” 
was  brought  against  the  Earl,  and  he  was  attainted  of  high  treason. 
Unprepared,  as  it  would  seem,  for  so  rigorous  a measure,  Desmond 
was  arrested,  by  order  of  the  Lord  Deputy,  and  beheaded  at  Drog- 
heda. This  act  of  tyranny  did  not  remain  long  unpunished.  Wor- 
cester was  recalled  to  England,  where,  in  a new  revolution,  he  suf- 
fered the  same  fate  which  he  had  inflicted  on  Desmond. 

Among  the  most  distinguished  victims  to  the  late  triumphs  of 
the  Yorkists,  was  the  Earl  of  Ormond,  who,  having  been  made  pri- 
soner in  the  bloody  battle  of  Towton,  was,  a few  weeks  after,  be- 
headed ; and,  throughout  a great  part  of  Edward’s  reign,  all  belong- 
ing to  the  family  of  Ormond  remained  in  disgrace.  The  adherence 
of  this  family  to  the  fortunes  of  Henry  VI.  had  drawn  down  upon 
John,  brother  of  the  late  Earl,  the  penalty  of  attainder.  By  a stat- 
ute, however,  made  in  the  sixteenth  year  of  Edward  IV.,  the  act  of 


74 


BROTHERS  OF  ST.  GEORGE  ESTABLISHED. 


attainder  was  repealed,  and  the  Earl  restored  to  his  lands,  name, 
and  dignity. 

Ireland'  was,  for  a long  time,  particularly  during  this  reign,  dis- 
tracted by  the  feuds  between  the  factions  of  the  Butlers,  at  the  head 
of  whom  was  Ormond,  and  the  Geraldines,  which  comprised  the 
families  of  Desmond  and  Kildare.  These  factions  fought  on  oppo- 
site sides  in  the  great  struggle  between  the  Houses  of  York  and 
Lancaster. 

In  order  to  recruit,  and  support  the  small  community  to  which  the 
English  colony  was  reduced,  a fraternity  of  arms  was  at  this  time 
constituted,  under  the  title  of  the  Brothers  of  St.  George,  consisting 
of  thirteen  persons  of  the  highest  rank  and  most  approved  loyalty. 
To  the  captain  of  this  military  brotherhood,  who  was  to  be  elected 
annually,  on  St.  George’s  Day,  was  assigned  a guard  of  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  archers  on  horseback,  forty  other  horsemen,  and 
forty  pages ; and  of  these  two  hundred  men  consisted  the  whole  of 
of  the  standing  forces  then  maintained  by  the  English  government 
in  Ireland.  The  natives,  however,  were  too  much  divided  among 
themselves,  and  too  suspicious  and  jealous  of  each  other,  to  take  ad- 
vantage, at  this  time,  of  the  weakness  of  the  military  force  of  the  Pale. 

On  the  death  of  the  ill-fated  Duke  of  Clarence,  (who,  it  will  be  re- 
membered, was  drowned  in  a butt  of  Malmsey  wine,  by  order  of  his 
brother,  Edward  IY.,)  the  office  of  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  was 
conferred  by  Edward  on  his  second  son,  Richard,  Duke  of  York; 
and  it  was  as  deputy  of  this  infant  Prince  that  the  Earl  of  Kildare 
now  held  the  reigns  of  the  government,  at  the  close  of  this  reign,  in 
1483. 

An  act  of  the  Irish  Parliament,  passed  while  the  Earl  of  Wor- 
cester was  Lord  Deputy,  deserves  to  be  noticed.  It  declared  that 
the  Kings  of  England  held  the  lordship  of  Ireland  by  a direct  grant 
from  the  Holy  See,  (the  Pope  of  Rome,)  and  therefore  directed  that 
all  Archbishops  and  Bishops  of  Ireland,  on  admonition  of  forty  days, 
should  excommunicate  all  disobedient  subjects  as  heretics. 

During  the  nominal  reign  of  the  fifth  Edward,  and  the  short 
usurpation  of  Richard  III.,  the  condition  of  Ireland  remained  unim- 
proved and  unchanged.  Throughout  this  brief  and  bloody  period, 
the  power  of  the  Pale  was  almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  Ger- 
aldines ; the  Earl  of  Kildare  performing  the  functions  of  Lord  De- 
puty, while  his  brother  was  Lord  Chancellor.  The  reign  of  Richard 
TII.  was  brought  to  a close  by  the  battle  of  Bosworth  field,  in  1485. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


REIGN  OF  HENRY  VII. 

The  restoration  of  the  Lancasterian  line,  in  Henry  VILfwho  was 
elected  King  of  England  after  the  battle  of  Boswortb,  was  very 
unacceptable  to  the  greater  number  of  noble  families  in  Ireland, 
who  were  zealously  attached  to  the  house  of  York.  From  motives 
of  prudence  and  expediency,  however,  the  King  confirmed  in  office 
all  those  in  important  stations  in  Ireland,  which  he  found  filled  by 
partizans  of  the  house  of  York.  Among  these  was  the  Earl  of  Kil- 
dare, who  was  continued  as  Lord  Deputy. 

In  order  to  profit  by  the  strong  feeling  in  favor  of  the  Yorkists, 
Dublin  was  the  place  selected  for  the  opening  of  the  plot  of  a strange 
conspiracy.  Early  in  the  year  1486,  there  landed  in  that  city,  a 
Priest  of  Oxford,  named  Richard  Simons,  attended  by  his  ward, 
Lambert  Simnel,  a boy  of  about  eleven  years  of  age,  the  son  of  an 
Oxford  tradesman.  This  youth  he  presented  to  the  Lord  Deputy 
and  the  Council,  as  Edward,  Earl  of  Warwick,  son  of  the  late  Duke 
of  Clarence.  The  scheme  was  instantly  and  completely  successful. 
The  Earl  of  Kildare  and  the  people  of  Dublin  declared  in  his  favor, 
and  their  example  was  followed  by  almost  the  whole  of  the  people 
of  the  Pale,  who,  admitting,  at  once,  the  young  pretender’s  title, 
proclaimed  him,  by  the  style  of  Edward  VI.,  King  of  England  and 
France,  and  Lord  of  Ireland.  Amidst  this  general  defection,  how- 
ever, the  citizens  of  Waterford  remained  firm  in  their  allegiance  to 
Henry,  with  the  family  of  the  Butlers,  and  a few  ecclesiastics. 

It  seems  generally  to  be  supposed  that  this  plot  and  others,  during 
this  reign,  had  originated  at  the  court  of  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy, 
third  sister  of  Edward  IV.  Through  her  influence  and  that  of  her 
relatives,  a force  of  two  thousand  German  troops,  accompanied  by 
the  two  English  Earls,  Lincoln  and  Lovell,  landed  at  Dublin,  to 
assist  the  conspiracy. 

Meanwhile,  the  King,  to  correct  the  dangerous  impression  already 
produced  by  the  impostor,  gave  orders  that  the  real  Earl  of  War- 
wick, who  was  confined  in  the  Tower,  should  be  conducted,  in  the 
sight  of  all  London,  to  St.  Paul’s.  He  was  also  daily  seen  and  con- 


76 


LAMBERT  SIMNEL’S  CONSPIRACY. 


versed  with  by  several  noblemen,  his  friends.  This  satisfied  the 
English  people  ; but  the  Irish,  remote  from  such  means  of  inquiry, 
and  embarked  too  heartily  in  the  general  cause  to  be  at  all  particu- 
lar as  to  its  grounds,  not  only  persisted  in  their  adherence  to  Sim- 
nel,  but  retorted  on  Henry  the  charge  of  imposture,  maintaining  his 
Warwick  to  be  the  counterfeit,  and  their  “ lad,”  as  they  familiarly 
styled  him,  the  real  Plantagenet. 

The  ultimate  issue  of  the  affair  was,  that  Simnel,  after  being 
crowned  in  Dublin,  attended  by  a large  force  of  the  Irish  and  Ger- 
mans, and  with  men  of  distinction  in  his  train,  landed  in  England, 
in  1487.  The  invaders  directed  their  course  to  York,  their  leaders 
presuming  the  mass  of  the  English  ripe  for  revolt,  but  were  disap- 
pointed in  their  hope  of  being  joined  by  the  people.  Simnel’s  army 
were  met  by  the  royal  forces  at  Stoke,  in  Nottinghamshire,  and  after 
a short  and  sanguinary  battle,  were  defeated  by  the  latter,  and  cut  to 
pieces.  Of  the  eight  thousand  men  that  formed  the  invading  army, 
one  half  were  left  dead  on  the  field.  The  royalists  had  greatly  the 
advantage  in  numbers,  but  the  Germans  and  the  soldiers  of  the  Pale 
displayed  bravery  worthy  of  a more  rational  cause.  Among  the 
slain  were  almost  all  the  chief  leaders  of  the  expedition. 

The  fate  of  Simnel  foims  a curious  contrast  to  his  short  pageant 
of  royalty.  The  poor  boy,  with  his  tutor,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
victors,  and  the  King,  seeing  no  harm  to  be  apprehended  from  him, 
after  granting  him  full  pardon,  made  him  a turnspit  in  the  royal 
kitchen,  and,  not  long  after,  raised  him  to  the  rank  of  a falconer. 

Perceiving  that  the  storm  had  now  blown  over,  and  knowing 
that  it  was  only  by  the  power  and  influence  of  Kildare  and  a few 
other  lords  that  the  Irish  Chieftains  could  be  kept  in  awe,  Plenty 
preferred  the  policy  of  pardoning  that  powerful  nobleman,  as  well 
as  others  who  had  disgraced  themselves  in  this  conspiracy.  This 
pardon  he  granted  them  in  answer  to  their  petition,  acknowledging 
their  transgressions  and  imploring  his  forgiveness. 

The  King  sent  a letter,  written  with  his  own  hand,  to  the  citizens 
of  Waterford,  thanking  them  for  their  fidelity  ; and  at  the  same  time 
he  graciously  received  the  deputies  from  Dublin,  and  readily  granted 
a general  pardon.  To  secure  the  fidelity  of  his  repentant  subjects, 
he  sent  Sir  Richard  Edgecombe  to  Ireland,  with  a train  of  five 
hundred  men,  to  receive  anew  the  oaths  of  allegiance.  He  was 
welcomed  by  the  magistrates  of  the  city  of  Dublin,  and  generally 


PERKIN  WAKBECK  IN  IRELAND. 


77 


by  the  Barons,  with  apparent  submission.  It  was  not  so  easy  to 
prevail  on  the  Earl  of  Kildare  to  perform  homage.  He  invented 
several  pretexts  for  delay  ; and  when  these  failed,  he  appears  to 
have  intended  a religious  fraud,  to  save  him  from  being  bound  by 
the  oath  of  allegiance. 

In  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  the  intention  of  the  officiating 
priest  is  held  necessary  to  the  perfection  of  a sacrament.  If  then, 
the  Host  on  which  the  Irish  lords  should  be  sworn,  was  consecrated 
by  a priest  on  whom  they  could  prevail  to  withhold  his  intention, 
transubstantiation  would  not  take  place;  the  wafer  would  still  be 
simple  bread,  and  the  whole  an  idle  ceremony.  It  was  not  without 
difficulty  that  Edgecombe,  who  suspected  the  fraud,  prevailed  on 
Kildare  to  permit  the  Host  to  be  consecrated  by  his  own  private 
chaplain. 

Soon  after,  Kildare,  and  several  of  the  Irish  nobility,  being  sum- 
moned by  Henry,  went  over  to  England,  and  did  homage  to  the 
King  in  person.  They  were  magnificently  entertained  by  Henry, 
at  Greenwich ; but  had  the  mortification  to  see  their  former  idol, 
“the  lad”  Simnel,  as  butler  at  table.  Kildare  on  his  return  con- 
tinued to  exercise  all  his  former  authority,  and  preserved  the  Pale 
in  greater  tranquillity  than  it  had  enjoyed  for  a long  time,  although 
many  of  the  Irish  Chiefs  were  at  war  among  themselves  and  with 
the  Earl  of  Desmond. 

The  Simnel  plot  having  proved  so  signal  a failure,  it  would 
seem  hardly  conceivable  that  in  but  a few  years  after,  some  of  the 
same  personages  who  had  been  concerned  in  that  abortive  scheme, 
should  have  brought  forward  another  and  similar  contrivance;  and 
moreover,  that  the  English  colony  in  Ireland,  should  have  been 
again  chosen,  on  no  very  flattering  estimate  of  its  honesty  or  dis- 
cernment, to  be  the  opening  scene  of  the  adventure.  Of  this  plot, 
as  well  as  the  former,  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy,  sister  of  Edward 
IV.,  was  the  prime  mover,  and  the  personage  whom  she  now 
brought  forward,  claimed  to  be  Richard,  Duke  of  York,  son  of 
Edward  IV.,  who  had  made  his  escape,  as  she  pretended,  from 
the  Tower,  instead  of  having  been  murdered,  with  the  elder  brother, 
(by  order  of  Richard  III.) 

This  individual,  generally  known  by  the  name  of  Perkin  War- 
beck,  arrived  at  Cork  in  the  year  1493,  in  an  ordinary  merchant 
vessel,  from  Lisbon,  in  Portugal.  This  is  not  the  place  to  examine 
11 


< 


78 


THE  MEMORABLE  “ POYNINGS’  ACT.” 


his  claims.  It  is  difficult  to  prove  that  he  was  Richard  Plantagenet ; 
it  is  equally  difficult  to  demonstrate  that  he  was  an  impostor. 
Horace  Walpole,  W.  C.  Taylor,  and  other  historians  inclined  to  the 
opinion  that  his  pretentions  were  well  founded. 

The  mere  announcement  of  the  arrival  at  Cork  of  a youth,  richly 
attired,  who  called  himself  Richard,  Duke  of  York,  the  second  son 
of  Edward  IV.,  appears  to  have  been  sufficient  to  rouse  into  activity 
the  ever  ready  elements  of  Anglo-Irish  faction.  The  citizens  of 
Cork  favored  the  young  pretender,  and  the  success  of  the  plot 
there  gave  it  currency  elsewhere.  Warbeck  wrote  from  Cork  to 
the  Earls  of  Kildare  and  Desmond  ; he  was  cheerfully  recognised 
by  the  latter,  but  before  Kildare  could  decide  on  the  part  he  should 
take,  the  adventurer  was  invited  by  the  King  of  France  to  his  court, 
where  he  was  graciously  received. 

The  King  of  England,  afraid  of  another  attempt  at  revolt  in  Ire- 
land, removed  Kildare  and  other  officers  of  state,  and  appointed  in 
their  places  those  in  whom  he  had  greater  confidence. 

The  effect  produced  by  the  landing  of  Warbeck  in  Ireland,  had  led 
Henry  to  consider  more  seriously  the  state  of  his  Irish  dominions, 
and  the  step  now  taken  by  him,  however  inadequate  to  the  exigen- 
cies of  the  case,  may  be  regarded  as  the  first  real  effort  of  the  Eng- 
lish government  to  curb  that  spirit  of  provincial  despotism,  which  it 
had  itself  let  loose  and  fostered.  The  person  selected  to  carry  into 
effect  the  important  reforms  the  King  now  meditated,  and  also  to 
trace  out  and  punish  the  abbettors  of  W arbeck,  was  Sir  Edward 
Poynings,  in  whom  the  King  placed  much  confidence.  He  was 
attended  by  a Council  of  eminent  lawyers,  and  a force  of  about  a 
thousand  men. 

In  November  of  the  year  of  his  arrival  in  Ireland,  (1484,)  was 
held  that  memorable  Parliament  at  Drogheda,  which  enacted  the 
statute,  called,  after  the  name  of  the  Lord  Deputy,  “ Poffiings ’ act” 
The  provision  made  by  this  statute  was,  that  no  Parliament  should, 
for  the  future,  be  held  in  Ireland  until  the  Chief  Governor  and 
Council  had  first  certified  to  the  King,  under  the  great  seal  of  the 
land,  “ as  well  the  causes  and  considerations  as  the  acts  they  de- 
signed to  pass,  and  till  the  same  should  be  approved  by  the  King 
and  Council.”  This  noted  statute  was  meant  as  a preventive  of 
some  of  the  evils  and  inconveniences  which  could  not  but  arise 
from  the  existence  of  a separate  legislature  in  Ireland,  independent 


PERKIN  WARBECK’S  FARTHER  ADVENTURES.  79 

of,  and  indispensable  to  that  of  England.  The  mischiefs  insepara- 
ble from  the  nature  of  such  a body  were  shown  during  the  contests 
between  the  Yorkists  and  Lancasterians,  and  in  the  gross  mockery 
of  a Parliament  summoned  to  sanction  the  claims  of  the  wretched 
impostor,  Lambert  Simnel. 

It  was  also  enacted,  in  this  same  Parliament,  that  all  the  statutes 
made  lately  in  England,  concerning  or  belonging  to  the  public 
weal,  should  be  henceforth  good  and  effectual  in  Ireland.  The  act 
passed  during  the  administration  of  the  Duke  of  York,  making  Ire- 
land a sanctuary  for  foreigners,  and  thus  shielding  rebels  and 
traitors,  was  now  repealed.  The.  general  use  of  bows  and  arrows 
was,  as  usual,  enjoined,  and  various  other  enactments  were  made 
by  this  Parliament,  including  one  for  the  resumption,  with  some 
few  exceptions,  of  all  the  grants  made  by  the  crown,  since  the  reign 
of  King  Edward  II. 

Perkin  Warbeck,  having  remained  some  time  in  France  and 
Flanders,  visited  Ireland  a second  time,  in  1495,  but  finding  now 
little  support  or  encouragement,  he  sailed  from  Cork  to  Scotland, 
having  been  recommended  to  James  IV.,  then  ruler  of  that  king- 
dom, not  only  by  the  Duchess  of  Burgundy,  but  in  private  letters 
from  the  King  of  France  and  Maximilian,  Emperor  of  Germany. 

Whether  King  James  really  believed  in  Warbeck’s  story,  it  is  not 
easy  to  discover.  But  it  is  proved  by  the  Scottish  records  that  he 
had  been  engaged  in  secret  correspondence  with  the  Duchess  of 
Burgundy  on  the  subject.  Whatever  his  secret  opinion  or  knowledge 
on  the  subject  may  have  been,  his  whole  conduct  implied  a belief 
in  the  truth  of  Warbeck’s  claims  ; he  now  received  him  with  roval 
honors,  and  bestowed  on  him  the  hand  of  the  fair  Catharine  Gor- 
don, the  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Huntley,  and  grand  daughter  of 
King  James  I. 

The  flattering  prospects  opened  to  Warbeck  by  the  zealous  part 
the  Scottish  monarch  had  taken  in  his  behalf,  having  vanished,  the 
unfortunate  adventurer,  who  was  still  treated  with  all  the  respect 
due  to  his  assumed  rank,  resolved  to  try,  once  more,  his  fortune  in 
Ireland.  A vessel,  . and  guard  of  thirty  horse  having  been  provided 
for  him  by  his  royal  protector,  he  sailed,  accompanied  by  his  wife, 
for  Cork.  There  he  was  joined  by  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  with  a 
force  of  two  thousand  four  hundred  men,  and  marched  against  Wa- 
terford,— a fleet  of  eleven  ships  being  sent  to  make  an  attack  from 


80 


DECISIVE  BATTLE  WITH  THE  NATIVES. 


the  river.  The  citizens  made  a vigorous  defence  ; and,  in  one  of 
their  sallies,  took  a number  of  prisoners,  whose  heads  they  cut  off 
and  placed  upon  stakes,  as  memorials  of  their  victory.  Discouraged 
by  losses,  Desmond  found  himself  compelled  to  raise  the  siege; 
while  Warbeck  and  his  wife  made  their  way  back,  by  water,  to 
Cork,  and  from  thence  sailed  to  Cornwall, — being  closely  pursued 
by  four  ships  that  had  been  sent  from  Waterford  to  apprehend  him. 
The  closing  scene  of  Warbeck’s  life,  took  place  in  1499,  when  he 
was  executed  for  treason,  at  Tyburn  ; and  with  him  suffered  the 
first  who  espoused  his  cause  in  Ireland,  John  Waters,  Mayor  of 
Cork.  His  other  Irish  abettor,  the  Earl  of  Desmond,  was  far  more 
fortunate  in  his  fate;  the  King  not  only  freely  pardoned  all  his 
offences,  but  even  received  him  into  favor. 

The  native  Chiefs  having  confederated  against  the  English  gov- 
ernment in  Ireland,  the  Earl  of  Kildare  collected  all  the  force  he 
was  able  to  muster,  and,  being  accompanied  by  all  the  great  Anglo- 
Irish  lords,  he  met  the  most  powerful  native  force  that  had  been 
seen  since  the  conquest.  The  battle  took  place  near  Galway,  in 
1504  ; and,  after  an  obstinate  contest,  the  Irish  were  defeated  and 
routed  with  great  slaughter.  The  result  of  this  conflict  was  of  the 
utmost  consequence  to  the  interests  of  the  crown  and  the  English 
colony  ; as  the  power  of  the  natives  to  combine  successfully  against 
their  oppressors,  had  now,  to  a certain  extent,  been  tried,  and  had 
utterly  failed. 

So  pleased  was  the  King  with  Kildare’s  services  on  this  occasion, 
that,  on  receiving  an  account  of  the  victory,  he  created  him  a Knight 
of  the  Garter,  and  continued  him,  as  Lord  Deputy,  to  the  close  of 
his  reign,  in  1509. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  REFORMATION  AND  ITS  EFFECTS  IN  IRELAND. 

The  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  constitutes  a new  era  in  the  histories 
of  both  England  and  Ireland;  and  the  age  in  which  he  lived  may 
be  said  to  have  constituted  a new  era  in  the  history  of  mankind. 
This  King  ascended  the  throne  in  1509,  and,  during  his  reign,  hav- 


THE  PROTESTANT  REFORMATION. 


SI 


ing  succeeded  in  extinguishing  the  papal  power  in  England,  he  at- 
tempted to  accomplish  the  same  object  in  Ireland,  but  with  different 
success.  Though  supported  by  the  Bishops  of  English  birth,  his 
scheme  was  obstinately  resisted  by  the  Irish.  The  native  Chieftains, 
also,  from  a conviction  that,  in  opposing  these  innovations,  they 
were  maintaining  the  cause,  not  only  of  their  independence,  but  of 
their  religion,  were  stimulated  to  the  greatest  efforts.  The  Irish  of 
Ulster  confederated  under  O’Nial,  as  the  champion  of  their  cause  ; 
but  a victory  gained  over  them,  at  Ballyhae,  by  Lord  Grey,  the 
Deputy,  dissolved  their  union.  O’Nial,  and  others,  submitted,  and 
changed  their  ancient  dignities  for  those  of  English  nobility.  Henry, 
from  a wish  to  confirm  his  authority  by  a more  imposing  title,  had 
himself  styled  King , instead  of  Lord  of  Ireland,  under  which 
name  the  sovereign  authority  had  been  hitherto  exercised. 

About  the  year  1543,  James  V.,  King  of  Scotland,  formed  some 
pretensions  to  the  crown  of  Ireland,  and  was  favored  by  a powerful 
party  among  the  Irish  themselves.  It  is  hard  to  say,  had  he  lived, 
what  the  consequences  of  his  claim  might  have  been. 

The  reign  of  Edward  YI.,  (1547  to  1553,)  was  the  crisis  of  the 
Reformation  in  Ireland.  The  guardians  of  the  young  King,  intent 
on  their  own  schemes  of  petty  ambtion,  neglected  the  important 
interests  of  the  nation ; and  the  fabric  which  Henry  had  erected 
with  so  much  labor,  soon  fell  to  ruin.  Their  treatment  of  the  Irish 
Chieftains  destroyed  the  confidence  of  the  people  in  the  govern- 
ment.  At  this  unfavorable  moment,  the  reformed  liturgy  was  at- 
tempted to  be  introduced  into  Ireland  ; but,  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected, was  not  favorably  received  by  the  people.  The  condition 
of  the  Irish  Church  was  far  different  from  that  of  England.  The 
English  owed  their  possession  of  Ireland  to  a bargain  made  with 
the  Pope  and  the  Prelates.  The  Romish  authority  was  the  guar- 
antee of  their  security;  and  the  Anglo-Irish  Barons  gladly  assisted 
in  strengthening  the  power  which  seemed  alone  able  to  ensure  their 
safety.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  had,  consequently,  been  long 
an  estate  of  the  realm,  paramount  to  all  the  rest. 

While  affairs  were  in  confusion,  the  death  of  Edward  VI.  pro- 
duced a new  revolution.  The  officers  of  state  changed  their  reli- 
gion with  the  same  facility  they  had  displayed  on  former  occasions, 
and  the  great  body  of  the  clergy  followed  their  example.  Those 
priests  who  had  married,  preserved  their  consistency  by  retiring 
from  the  clerical  office. 


82 


REIGNS  OP  MART  AND  ELIZABETH. 


Queen  Mary  commenced  her  reign,  (which  lasted  from  1553  to 
1558,)  by  several  acts,  equally  just,  humane  and  politic.  She  granted 
an  amnesty  to  those  who  had  proclaimed  Lady  Jane  Grey  in  Dub- 
lin ; she  restored  the  Earl  of  Kildare  to  his  title  and  estates,  of 
which  he  had  been  deprived  ; and  she  liberated  O’Connor  of  Offa- 
ley,  who  had  long  been  a prisoner.  The  restoration  of  the  Catholic 
religion  was  effected  without  violence  ; no  persecution  of  the  Pro- 
testants was  attempted  : and  several  of  the  English,  who  fled  from 
the  furious  zeal  of  Mary’s  inquisitors  in  England,  found  a safe 
retreat  among  the  Catholics  of  Ireland. 

The  massacre  of  the  natives  of  Leix  and  Offaley,  who  were 
driven  from  their  possessions  by  the  English,  pursued  with  fire  and 
sword,  and  their  habitations  burnt,  took  place  during  this  reign. 
These  districts,  by  order  of  the  government,  were  formed  into  the 
counties  of  Kings  and  Queens,  and  the  chief  towns  named  Philips- 
town  and  Maryborough,  in  honor  of  King  Philip  and  Queen  Mary. 

The  contests  between  the  conflicting  interests  were  carried  to 
their  greatest  height  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  (from  1558  to  1G03.) 
Partial  invasions  of  Ireland  had  been  attempted  by  the  Spanish  gov- 
ernment, several  years  before  the  equipment  of  the  armada.  An 
army  of  several  thousand  Spaniards  was  actually  landed,  attended 
by  a Pope’s  nuncio,  who, gained  possession  of  Kinsale.  And  Eng- 
land thus  found  herself  in  danger  of  being  beset  on  the  east  and 
west  by  the  power  of  Spain,  then  formidable  and  centred  in  the 
Netherlands, 'and  their  naval  armaments  in  the  harbors  of  Ireland. 

These  considerations  determined  the  English  government  to 
make  uncommon  efforts  to  secure  the  possession  of  Ireland.  Very 
' considerable  subsidies,  were  voted  by  Parliament  for  that  purpose, 
and  an  army  of  twenty  thousand  men,  well  provided,  was  sent, 
which,  assisted  by  the  advantages  and  power  already  possessed  in 
the  country,  by  successive  reinforcements  from  England,  and  by 
other  favorable  circumstances,  effected  a complete  reduction  of  all 
the  different  lords  and  chiefs  who,  till  then,  had  ruled  in  the  Island, 
after  a war  which  continued  about  seven  years.  Queen  Elizabeth, 
however,  did  not  live  to  see  Ireland  entirely  reduced.  The  final 
capitulation  of  the  Chieftain  O’Nial  was  not  signed  until  a few  days 
after  her  death,  in  1603 

Among  those  officers  who  commanded  in  Ireland,  during  the 
reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  were,  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  the  Earl  of 


RIGOROUS  MEASURES  OF  ELIZABETH. 


83 


Essex,  the  Earl  of  Ormond,  and  Lord  Grey.  A small  force  of  Span- 
iards and  Italians,  sent  by  Philip,  King  of  Spain,  invaded  Ireland, 
and  were  joined  by  the  Earl  of  Desmond  and  other  Anglo-Irish  and 
Irish  Catholics.  The  invaders  fortified  themselves  in  Kerry  ; but, 
after  an  assault  upon  them  by  the  English,  under  Lord  Grey,  the 
garrison  surrendered  at  discretion,  and  were  massacred  in  cold 
blood.  The  execution  of  this  barbarous  service  was  entrusted  to 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh.  The  Queen  was  greatly  displeased  at  this 
outrage,  though  it  was  attempted  to  be  justified  by  the  imperious 
circumstance  of  the  inferiority  of  numbers  on  the  side  of  victory. 

In  15S6,  the  Irish  Parliament  passed  a bill  of  attainder  against 
tne  Earl  of  Desmond  and  about  one  hundred  and  forty  of  his  accom- 
plices,— all  of  whose  estates  were  forfeited  and  vested  in  the  crown. 
The  Desmond  estates  alone  amounted  to  six  hundred  thousand  acres. 
A host  of  hungry  expectants  eagerly  awaited  the  event, — hoping 
that  rich  estates  would  reward  the  crimes  which  had  brought  about 
the  confiscation.  In  this  Parliament,  for  the  first  time,  several  of 
the  original  Irish  families  joined  in  deliberation  with  the  settlers 
of  the  Pale.  There  was  no  secret  interference  with  the  elections 
which  took  place  in  1584,  and  an  independent  House  of  Commons, 
fairly  representing  the  people,  was  returned.  In  the  upper  house 
sat  two  Bishops,  professed  Roman  Catholics,  from  the  Sees  of  Clo- 
gher  and  Raphoe,  over  which  Elizabeth  had,  as  yet,  exercised  no 
control ; and  Turlough,  the  nominal  head  of  the  O’lrials,  took  his 
seat  as  Earl  of  Tyrone.  This  was  under  the  administration  of  Sir 
John  Perrot. 

In  the  same  year,  1586,  Elizabeth  and  her  minister's  entered  upon 
her  favorite  project,  that  of  wholly  extirpating  the  original  popula-r 
tion  of  the  country,  by  colonizing  it  with  English  settlers.  She 
began  with  the  the  province  of  Munster.  Letters  were  written  to 
every  county  in  England,  to  encourage  younger  brothers  to  become 
undertakers  or  adventurers  in  Ireland.  Estates  were  offered  in  fee 
at  a small  rent  of  three  pence,  and,  in  some  places,  two  pence  per 
acre.  Seven  years  were  to  be  allowed  to  complete  the  plantation. 
The  undertaker  for  twelve  thousand  acres  was  to  plant  eighty-six 
families  on  his  estates ; those  for  less  seigniories,  in  proportion. — 
None  of  the  native  Irish  were  to  be  admitted  among  their  tenantry. 
Garrisons  were  provided,  by  government,  to  defend  the  frontiers. 
Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  Sir  Christopher  Hatton,  and  others,  received 
ample  grants. 


84 


EFFECTS  OF  ELIZABETH’S  MEASURES. 


The  Earl  of  Desmond,  previous  to  the  confiscation  of  his  estates, 
was  hunted  and  pursued  by  the  English,  and  finally  killed  by  an 
Irishman  named  Kelly,  who  smote  off  his  head  and  brought  it  to 
the  Earl  of  Ormond,  by  whom  it  was  conveyed  to  the  Queen  and 
exhibited  on  London  bridge.  Thus  was  a family  extinguished 
which  had  for  four  centuries  flourished  in  rude  magnificence,  and 
had  often  proved  too  powerful  for  the  English  government  in  Ire- 
land. 

The  scheme  of  the  plantation  or  colonization  system  totally  failed. 
The  undertakers  violated  their  contracts,  preferring  the  Irish  serf 
to  the  independent  freeholder  ; and  the  opportunity  of  introducing 
an  orderly  middle  class  into  Ireland,  which  Elizabeth  had  acquired 
at  the  expense  of  so  much  blood,  was  lost  by  the  venality  of  her 
unprincipled  servants. 

The  judicious  administration  of  Sir  John  Perrot  had  given  to 
Ireland  unusual  peace  and  prosperity.  The  conduct  of  his  suc- 
cessor, Fitz  William,  produced  a new  train  of  calamities  and 
crimes,  whose  consequences  are  scarcely  yet  effaced.  This  gov- 
ernor had  but  one  object  in  view,  his  own  private  emolument,  and 
in  pursuit  of  this,  he  quarrelled  with  the  Irish  Chieftains,  by  his 
treatment  of  whom  he  excited  the  most  bitter  hostility  of  the  na- 
tives. This  led  to  a succession  of  insurrections,  under  different 
governors,  which  terminated,  as  we  have  stated,  in  the  final  sub- 
mission of  tlft  Chiefs  and  the  people  to  the  English  power,  at  the 
close  of  Elizabeth’s  reign. 

The  subjugation  of  Ireland,  which  proved  imperfect,  cost  the 
English  more  than  three  millions  sterling,  and  an  incalculable 
number  of  Elizabeth’s  bravest  soldiers.  The  unfortunate  country 
was  reduced  nearly  to  a desert ; and  at  least  one  half  of  the  popula- 
tion perished  by  famine  or  the  sword.  The  finances  were  so  dilap- 
idated that  they  were  inadequate  to  the  ordinary  expenses  of  the 
government. 

Religion  could  not  be  expected  to  possess  much  influence  amid 
the  incessant  din  of  arms.  It  was,  to  use  the  language  of  an  old 
divine,  u in  every  body’s  mouth  and  no  body’s  heart.”  The  efforts 
which  were  made  to  give  the  struggle  the  character  of  a religious 
war  signally  failed.  Many  of  Elizabeth’s  bravest  soldiers  were 
Catholics,  but  never  for  a moment  swerved  from  their  allegiance. 


85 


CHAPTER  XI. 

IRELAND  UNDER  THE  STUARTS  AND  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

The  successor  of  Elizabeth,  James  I.,  is  to  be  considered  as  the 
first  English  sovereign  who  possessed  the  dominion  of  Ireland.  At 
this  time,  opposition  to  the  English  government  was  at  an  end. 
James,  during  the  greater  part  of  his  reign,  applied  himself  to  the 
business  of  reformation,  and  to  what  was  called,  in  the  quaint  phrase- 
ology of  the  time,  “ the  plantation  of  Ulster.”  The  six  counties 
which  were  now  forfeited  by  Tyrone  and  other  northern  lords  and 
chiefs,  containing  more  that  half  a million  of  acres,  were  parcelled 
out  into  estates  of  various  dimensions,  none  exceeding  tracts  of 
two  thousand  acres  ; flattering  inducements  were  held  out  to  Eng- 
lish and  Scotch  agriculturalists  to  settle  on  them.  Much  of  the 
land  was  purchased  by  some  of  the  London  trading  companies,  who 
for  many  years,  under  the  name  of  the  Irish  Society,  retained  the 
proprietorship  of  extensive  tracts  in  those  counties.  Large  portions 
of  land  were  also  appropriated  to  the  clergy,  and  to  the  public 
schools. 

James  was  peculiarly  anxious  to  ingratiate  himself  with  his  Irish 
subjects  by  encouraging  reports  of  his  disposition  to  favor  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  the  Catholics  ; a disposition  which  was  magnified 
by  the  enthusiastic  hopes  of  the  Catholics  themselves,  into  an  actual 
toleration  of  them,  and  they  no  longer  thought  it  necessary  to  prac- 
tise their  religion  in  secrecy.  But  measures  were  soon  adopted  to 
check  them,  and  the  dawning  hopes  of  toleration  were  quenched 
at  once.  The  King,  however,  was  still  desirous  of  conciliating 
the  Irish,  and  in  1605,  an  act  of  oblivion  and  indemnity  was  passed, 
by  which  all  offences  against  the  crown  were  pardoned,  and  all  the 
Irish  living  under  Chieftains  were  admitted  into  the  immediate  pro- 
tection of  the  King  ; a measure  which,  according  to  John  Davies, 
the  King’s  Attorney  General,  “ bred  such  comfort  and  security  in 
the  hearts  of  all  men,  as  thereupon  ensued  the  calmest  and  most 
universal  peace  that  was  ever  seen  in  Ireland.” 

In  1613,  after  a lapse  of  twenty-seven  years,  a new  Parliament 
was  convened  in  Ireland.  When  this  Parliament  assembled,  vio- 
12 


86  CONTEST  IN  PARLIAMENT, — TYRANNY  OP  JAMES  I. 

lent  altercations  took  place  between  the  court  and  country  mem- 
bers ; of  the  former  the  greater  part  were  Protestants,  and  among 
the  latter  were  to  be  found  the  Catholic  representatives,  or  recusants, 
as  they  were  then  termed.  The  Upper  House  consisted  of  sixteen 
barons,  five  viscounts,  four  earls,  and  twenty-five  spiritual  peers — 
in  all  fifty,  of  whom  the  prelates  and  a majority  of  others,  were  sup- 
porters of  the  government.  In  the  House  of  Commons,  which  con- 
tained members  from  forty  boroughs,  created  by  James,  to  provide 
against  danger  of  opposition,  parties  were  nearly  balanced.  On  the 
vote  for  speaker,  Sir  John  Davies,  (the  King’s  Attorney  General,) 
had  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven,  and  for  Sir  John  Everard,  op- 
position, ninety-seven.  A scene  of  confusion  arose,  in  consequence 
of  Everard’s  having  taken  the  chair  Avhile  the  other  party  had  re- 
tired; and  Sir  John  Davies  was  then  placed  in  his  lap.  A disgrace- 
ful tumult  followed,  ending  in  the  retirement  of  the  recusants,  pro- 
testing against  the  proceedings.  A remonstrance  was  presented  to 
King  James,  who  heard  both  parties  in  Council,-  and  then  decided 
in  favor  of  his  own  supporters,  threatening  the  opposition  with 
punishment  if  they  persisted  in  their  course,  and  promising  his 
favor,  if  they  atoned  by  submission.  The  country  party  made  no 
farther  opposition. 

Flushed  with  the  success  of  his  first  scheme  of  colonization, 
James  proceeded  to  extend  the  system,  and  after  appointing  a com- 
mission of  enquiry  to  scrutinize  titles  and  rights,  a confiscation  of 
lands  in  Leinster  and  the  adjoining  districts  took  place,  to  the 
amount  about  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  acres.  These 
lands  were  apportioned  to  English  settlers  and  to  some  few  of  the 
natives,  under  regulations  similar  to  those  by  which  he  had  colo- 
nized Ulster.  The  most  atrocious  violations  of  justice  and  private 
rights  were  committed,  merely  to  gratify  the  colonizing  wishes  of 
the  King.  This  was  the  last  act  of  any  importance  which  marked 
the  reign  of  James,  except  an  attempt  to  seize  upon  the  lands  of 
Connaught,  which  had  been  surrendered  to  the  crown  in  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth,  and  received  back  by  the  lords  and  gentry,  as  grants 
from  the  Q,ueen.  Having  neglected  the  enrolment  of  their  patents, 
they  again  surrendered  them  to  James,  and  paid  three  thousand 
pounds  to  have  them  enrolled.  The  King  was  disposed  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  a clerical  error  which  occurred  in  the  business,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  the  proprietors  tendered  him  a bribe  of  ten 


REBELLION  IN  THE  REIGN  OP  CHARLES  I. 


87 


thousand  pounds.  While  James  hesitated  between  the  temptation 
of  the  sum  in  hand  and  a larger  in  prospect,  he  was  seized  with 
mortal  illness,  and  died  in  1625,  bequeathing  his  three  kingdoms 
to  his  son,  the  unfortunate  Charles  I. 

On  the  accession  of  Charles  I.,  the  recusants  were  elated  with  the 
hope  of  receiving  greater  indulgence  than  they  had  hitherto  en- 
joyed ; and  as  the  government  of  Lord  Falkland,  (then  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant,) was  mild  and  conciliatory,  the  Roman  Catholic  religion 
was  more  openly  professed.  This  was  highly  offensive  to  the  pu- 
ritanical spirit  which  was  then  every  day  increasing,  and  such 
representations  were  made  to  the  English  court,  that  the  military 
establishment  was  increased. 

The  succeeding  admistration  of  Thomas  Yiscount  Wentworth, 
better  known  by  his  subsequent  title  of  Earl  of  Strafford,  forms  an 
important  era  in  the  history  of  Ireland.  Through  ignorance  rather 
than  design,  he  adopted  a system  which  led  to  discord  and  calamity 
and  involved  himself  and  his  master  in  one  general  ruin.  While 
some  in  England  speak  favorably  of  this  statesman,  his  name  is,  at 
this  day,  detested  in  Ireland.  His  harsh  and  unjustifiable  measures 
utterly  destroyed  the  spirit  of  confidence  between  the  government 
and  people.  By  calling  in  question  the  titles  of  the  landed  pro- 
prietors in  Connaught,  in  endeavoring  to  compel  the  verdict  of 
juries  in  favor  of  the  crown  to  the  lands,  he  excited  a suspicion  of 
farther  aggressions,  and  this,  joined  with  the  unsettled  state  of  Eng- 
land, led  to  the  catastrophe  which  nearly  annihilated  the  British 
dominion  in  Ireland. 

The  conspiracy  of  1641,  by  which  this  object  was  to  have  been 
effected,  and  which  was  detected  on  the  day  fixed  on  for  its  execu- 
tion, was  to  have  commenced  operations  by  the  seizure  of  the  Cas- 
tle of  Dublin.  Lord  Maguire,  one  of  its  most  active  agents,  was 
taken  and  executed  in  London.  Yet  its  failure  in  the  capital  did 
not  prevent  its  explosion  elsewhere.  It  broke  out  with  dreadful 
violence  in  the  north,  where  Sir  Phelim  O’Neill  soon  found  himself 
master  of  all  Ulster,  with  the  exception  of  a few  of  the  large  towns. 
The  accounts  of  the  atrocities  committed  at  the  commencement  of 
the  insurrection  have  been  much  exaggerated  by  the  virulence  of 
party.  But  this  much  is  certain,  that  the  contest,  which  raged  with 
various  success,  and  in  many  varieties  of  form,  throughout  the 
country,  from  1641  to  1652,  was  carried  on  with  all  the  bitter- 


88 


IRELAND  SUBDUED  BY  CROMWELL. 


ness  that  characterizes  civil  war,  aggravated  by  religious  ani- 
mosity. 

There  are  evidences,  in  letters  of  Charles  I.  to  the  Marquis  of  Or- 
mond, who  for  some  time  commanded  the  royal  forces  in  Ireland, 
that  he  was  desirous  of  conciliating  and  benefiting  the  Irish  Catho- 
lics, but  his  benevolent  policy  was  thwarted  by  that  nobleman,  who 
was  inveterate  in  his  hostility  to  that  portion  of  his  own  country- 
men. 

When  the  tidings  of  the  execution  of  the  King  were  conveyed  to 
Ormond,  in  1648,  he  instantly  proclaimed  the  Prince  of  Wales 
King,  under  the  title  of  Charles  II. 

Passing  over  the  events  of  “ the  war  of  the  confederates,”  as  it  is 
called,  we  can  only  mention  a few  of  the  circumstances  of  Crom- 
well’s visit  to  Ireland,  in  the  time  of  the  Commonwealth.  That 
general  eagerly  sought  to  crush  the  last  remaining  stay  of  the  Stu- 
arts, in  subduing  their  Catholic  adherents  in  Ireland.  He  landed 
at  Dublin  in  1 650,  with  a force  of  eight  thousand  foot  and  four 
thousand  horse,  and,  after  two  weeks,  marched,  with  ten  thousand 
men,  to  Drogheda,  which  place  he  took  by  storm,  and  put  the  whole 
garrison  to  the  sword,  except  about  thirty,  who  were  transported  to 
Barbadoes.  Cromwell  made  his  followers  believe  that  the  Irish 
ought  to  be  dealt  with  as  the  Canaanites  were  in  Joshua’s  time. 
By  this  terrible  example,  he  opened  to  himself  an  easy  entrance  into 
most  of  the  other  fortified  places  in  Ireland.  The  embers  of  resist- 
ance which  his  recall  to  England  compelled  him  to  leave  unextin- 
guished, were  finally  quenched  by  Ireton  and  his  other  generals, 
and  the  country  remained  in  a state  of  passive  subjection  to  the 
Parliament  of  England  until  the  Restoration. 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  war  of  extermination,  Ireland  presented 
a melancholy  and  affecting  picture  of  misery  and  wretchedness. 
The  ravages  of  war  had  been  heightened  by  their  worst  conse- 
quences, pestilence  and  famine.  The  country  was  little  else  than 
one  vast  desert.  Many  thousands  of  the  people  were  transported, 
by  order  of  Cromwell,  to  the  North  American  and  West  India  plan- 
tations. 

During  the  rule  of  the  Commonwealth,  the  landed  property  of 
the  country  was  transferred,  with  a few  exceptions,  from  the  ancient 
owners  of  the  soil,  to  the  soldiers  of  the  conquering  army,  or  to 
speculating  adventurers,  who  advanced  money  to  the  Common- 


REIGNS  OF  CHARLES  II.  AND  JAMES  II. 


89 


wealth,  on  the  assurance  of  repayment,  with  liberal  interest,  from 
the  confiscations  that  had  been  anticipated  as  the  necessary  conse- 
quence of  unsuccessful  resistance  to  the  constituted  authorities  of 
the  day.  The  extent  of  these  confiscations  was  enormous.  Of 
upwards  of  nineteen  millions  of  acres  which  Ireland  contains,  twelve 
millions  six  hundred  and  thirty-four  thousand,  seven  hundred  and 
eleven,  were  thus  transferred.  A transfer  of  persons  as  well  as  of 
property,  took  place.  The  Roman  Catholics  who  had  not  taken 
part  in  the  war,  were  distinguished  as  innocent  papists,  but  com- 
pelled to  remove  into  Connaught,  where  they  were  allowed  to  hold 
lands  of  inferior  quality,  by  paying  a small  rent  to  government. 

The  restoration  of  Charles  II.,  in  1660,  was  well  received  in  Ire- 
land, but  with  some  anxiety.  Some  were  impatient  to  be  restored 
to  their  old  possessions,  others  to  be  confirmed  in  their  new  acqui- 
sitions ; some  were  solicitous  for  pardon,  others  for  reward. 

An  Act  of  Settlement,  as  it  was  called,  was  sent  from  England, 
and  passed  the  Irish  Parliament,  in  1665,  by  which  the  rights  of 
the  several  interests  in  Ireland  were  fixed,  and  a final  and  invaria- 
ble rule  established  for  the  settlement  of  the  kingdom.  Commis- 
sioners were  appointed  for  carrying  this  act  into  execution  ; diffi- 
cult cases  they  were  to  refer  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant  and  Council, 
and  many  years  elapsed  before  all  the  applications  were  disposed  of. 
The  Irish  Catholics  suffered  great  injustice  from  this  measure, 
while  many  of  those  who  had  obtained  possessions  under  the  con- 
fiscations of  Cromwell,  were  confirmed  in  them. 

The  reign  of  James  II.,  commencing  in  16S5,  excited  a hope  in 
the  depressed  party  of  Catholics  that  the  system  of  proscription 
against  them  was  to  have  an  end.  The  pusillanimity  of  this  mon- 
arch and  the  vigor  of  his  rival,  quickly  dissipated  any  such  expect- 
ation. James,  when  driven  from  Great  Britain,  made  an  effort  to 
regain  his  elevated  position  through  the  energies  of  his  Irish  sub- 
jects. But  he  was  wholly  unqualified  to  direct  or  to  sustain  those 
energies.  After  a struggle  of  four  years,  in  which  he  was  baffled 
at  the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  and  afterwards,  through  his  generals,  at 
Athlone  and  Aughrim,  the  surrender  of  Limerick,  in  1691,  extin- 
guished every  gleam  of  hope.  The  whole  population  submitted  to 
the  English  government,  under  William  and  Mary,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  those  ardent  spirits  who  preferred  the  vicissitudes  of  a life  of 
exile,  to  the  monotony  of  domestic  subjugation.  There  went,  at  this 


90 


TREATY  OF  LIMERICK. 


time,  to  the  continent,  about  fourteen  thousand  men,  and  part  of 
them  were  formed  into  a corps,  in  the  service  of  France,  under  the 
name  of  the  Irish  brigade,  where,  during  the  succeeding  wars  on 
the  continent,  they  performed  good  service  against  the  government 
by  which  they  had  been  expatriated.  The  number  of  Irish  thus 
driven  into  the  ranks  of  the  enemy  of  England,  may  be  estimated 
from  the  fact  that,  according  to  the  official  statements  of  the  French 
army  accounts,  there  died  in  that  service,  between  the  taking  of 
Limerick,  in  1691,  and  the  battle  of  Fontenoy,  in  1745,  a period  of 
little  more  than  fifty  years,  no  fewer  than  four  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  Irish  soldiers. 

By  the  treaty  of  Limerick,  assented  to  by  King  William,  as  the 
terms  on  which  the  Irish  supporters  of  King  James  capitulated,  he 
consented  that  the  Irish  Roman  Catholics  should  enjoy  the  exercise 
of  their  religion,  as  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II.,  and  promised  to  en- 
deavor to  procure  them  farther  security,  when  a Parliament  should 
be  convened.  He  engaged  that  all  included  in  the  capitulation 
should  enjoy  their  estates  and  pursue  their  employments  freely,  as 
in  the  reign  of  King  Charles ; that  their  gentry  should  be  allowed 
the  use  of  arms  ; and  that  no  oath  should  be  required  of  any,  except 
that  of  allegiance.  “ The  Articles  of  Limerick,”  as  they  were  called, 
received  the  royal  assent  of  William  and  Mary  ; they  pledged  them- 
selves, and  for  their  heirs  and  successors,  to  abide  by  them,  and  to 
recommend  such  acts  of  Parliament  as  should  be  found  to  be  neces- 
sary, viz : “and  shall  give  our  royal  assent  to  any  bill  or  bills  that 
shall  be  passed  by  our  two  Houses  of  Parliament  to  that  purpose.” 


CHAPTER  XII. 


FROM  THE  TREATY  OF  LIMERICK  TO  THE  PRESENT  TIME. 

The  revolution  of  1688,  which  produced  so  much  good  to  Eng- 
land, was  the  source  of  little  advantage  to  Ireland.  That  liberty 
which  the  English  acquired  for  themselves,  in  the  expulsion  of 
James  II.,  and  the  bestowal  of  the  crown  on  William  and  Mary,  they 


REIGN  OF  WILLIAM  AND  MARY. 


91 


refused  to  communicate  to  others.  Some  allege  that  an  excuse  may 
be  found  for  the  feelings  of  the  English  nation  in  the  circumstances 
under  which  Ireland  then  appeared,  tier  Catholic  population  had 
fought  against  that  liberty  which  the  revolution  was  intended  to 
restore  and  confirm;  and  the  unabated  zeal  with  which  the  cause 
of  the  abdicated  and  bigoted  James  was  upheld  in  Ireland,  from 
168S  to  1691,  could  not  be  supposed  the  most  effectual  means  of 
securing  the  favor  and  protection  of  the  Whig  party  in  England, 
the  principal  supporters  of  William  and  Mary. 

We  shall  be  less  surprised  at  the  open  and  shameful  violation 
and  defiance  of  the  Articles  of  Limerick,  to  which  the  great  seal  of 
England  had  been  affixed,  when  we  consider  that,  they  were  boasted 
of,  by  the  Catholic  friends  of  James,  as  the  most  advantageous  ca- 
pitulation recorded  in  the  annals  of  war  ; and  for  that,  amongst  other 
reasons,  they  were  condemned  by  the  Irish  Protestants,  and  some 
of  the  most  violent  Whigs  in  England,  as  dishonorable  to  the  arms 
of  King  William,  and  unjust  to  his  best  friends  in  Ireland. 

Although  Ireland,  as  an  independent  kingdom,  claimed  under 
William,  the  same  rights  which  it  had  enjoyed  under  his  predeces- 
sors, yet  did  the  Parliament  of  England  usurp  the  right  of  legislat- 
ing for  Ireland,  in  as  free  and  uncontrolled  a manner,  as  if  Ireland 
had  no  Parliament  of  her  own.  Thus,  in  the  year  1691,  before 
King  William  had  convened  the  Irish  Parliament,  the  English  Par- 
liament passed  an  act  to  alter  the  laws  of  Ireland,  by  excluding  the 
Roman  Catholics,  the  decided  majority  of  the  nation,  from  a seat  in 
either  House  of  Parliament,  (excepting,  however,  persons  comprised 
in  the  Articles  of  Limerick.)  When  a pure  Protestant  Parliament 
was  convened  in  Ireland,  in  1692,  although  they  refused  to  carry 
out  the  views  of  the  English  Parliament,  they  enacted  laws  en- 
croaching upon  the  liberties  of  the  people  ; and  another  Parliament, 
in  1695,  passed  several  penal  laws  against  the  Catholics,  and  in 
direct  violation  of  the  Articles  of  Limerick. 

As  William  III.  held  his  crowli  by  parliamentary  tenure,  his 
power  as  a King  was  quite  limited,and  he  was  therefore  compelled 
to  acquiesce  in  the  acts  of  both  Parliaments  relative  to  Ireland,  al- 
though contrary,  as  doubtless  many  of  them  were,  to  his  views  and 
wishes.  One  of  the  acts  passed  by  the  Irish  Parliament  resumed 
seventy-six  grants  made  by  King  Will  iam,  of  the  forfeited  estates  in 
Ireland. 


92  UNION  PROPOSED  IN  THE  REIGN  OF  Q.UEEN  ANNE. 

William  died  in  1701,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  sister-in-law, 
Anne,  (the  last  of  the  Stuarts,)  whose  reign  continued  until  1714. 

From  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne  the  Irish  Parliament  began  to 
assemble  biennally.  An  act  was  passed  in  1703,  to  prevent  the 
growth  of  popery,  calculated  to  prevent  the  Catholics  from  acquir- 
ing and  holding  property.  A clause  was  added  to  the  bill  in  Eng- 
land, and  assented  to  by  the  Irish  Parliament,  to  prevent  any  per- 
son from  holding  office  who  should  not  receive  the  sacrament  ac- 
cording to  the  rites  of  the  established  Episcopal  Church.  This,  of 
course,  cut  off  Protestant  dissenters  as  well  as  Catholics.  During 
this  reign  the  Irish  Peers  proposed  a Union  with  England,  which 
was  coldly  received  in  Great  Britain.  “ We  are  sensible,”  say  the 
Lords,  “ that  our  preservation  is  owing  to  our  being  united  to  the 
crown  of  England,  so  we  are  convinced  that  it  would  tend  to  our 
further  security  and  happiness  to  have  a more  comprehensive  and 
entire  union  with  that  kingdom.” 

The  same  House  of  Peers,  on  another  occasion,  in  1703,  resolved 
on  the  report  of  a committee,  that  such  a representation  “ be  made 
to  the  Queen,  of  the  state  of  the  kingdom,  as  might  best  incline  her 
majesty  to  promote  such  a union  with  England,  as  might  qualify 
the  states  of  that  kingdom  to  be  represented  in  the  Parliament 
there.” 

In  1707  they  congratulated  the  Queen  on  the  union  of  England 
with  Scotland,  and  beseeched  her  majesty  to  go  on,  and  extend  her 
favor  to  all  her  subjects,  &c.  From  the  coldness  with  which  the 
Queen  answered  these  addresses,  it  is  plain  that  her  ministers  would 
not  then  listen  to  the  proposition  of  a union  with  Ireland.  In  the  con- 
gratulatory address  of  the  Irish  House  of  Commons  on  the  Scottish 
union,  they  did  not  hint  at  a similar  union  of  England  with  Ireland. 

On  the  death  of  Anne,  the  succession  to  the  British  crown  passed 
to  the  House  of  Hanover,  and  George  I.  ascended  the  throne,  in 
1714.  The  Irish  Parliament  recognized  the  King’s  title,  and  set  a 
price  on  the  head  of  the  pretender,  who  was  brother  to  Queen  Anne. 

The  British  Parliament  passed,  in  1708,  an  act  declaring  that 
they  had,  of  right,  full  power  to  make  laws  to  bind  the  people  and 
the  kingdom  of  Ireland,  and  that  the  House  of  Lords  of  Ireland  had 
not  any  appellate  jurisdiction.  The  Irish  Parliament  the  next  year 
passed  an  act  to  relieve  Protestant  dissenters  from  penalties  inflicted 
on  them  by  the  existing  laws. 


POPULARITY  OF  DEAN  SWIFT, 


93 


Daring  the  rebellion  in  Great  Britain,  in  1715,  in  favor  of  the 
son  of  James  II.,  Ireland  was  perfectly  tranquil ; nor  could  the 
slightest  trace  of  any  communication  between  the  native  Irish  and 
the  adherents  of  the  Pretender,  in  France  or  Scotland,  be  detected. 
But,  at  the  same  time,  the  country  was  reduced  to  such  a state  of 
wretchedness,  and  the  people,  precluded  from  the  benefits  of  indus- 
try by  restrictive  laws,  were  so  miserably  poor,  that  the  celebrated 
Dean  Swift  used  to  declare  that  he  “rejoiced  at  a mortality  as  a 
blessing  to  individuals  and  the  public.”  No  man,  at  this  period, 
was  more  popular  in  Ireland  than  Swift.  His  “ Drapier’s  Letters,” 
particularly,  gave  him  an  exalted  reputation  for  sagacity  and  patriot- 
ism. “ The  name  of  Augustus,”  says  Lord  Orrery,  “ was  not  be- 
stowed upon  Octavius  Caesar  with  more  universal  approbation  than 
the  name  of  the  Drapier  was  bestowed  upon  the  Dean.  He  had 
no  sooner  assumed  his  new  cognomen  than  he  became  the  idol  of 
the  people  of  Ireland,  to  a degree  of  devotion  that,  in  the  most  super- 
stitious country,  scarce  any  idol  ever  obtained.  Libations,  large 
and  frequent,  to  his  health  were  poured  forth.  His  effigies  were 
painted  in  every  street  in  Dublin.  Acclamations  and  vows  for  his 
prosperity  attended  his  footsteps  whenever  he  passed.  He  was  con- 
sulted in  all  points  relating  to  domestic  policy  in  general,  and  to 
the  trade  of  Ireland,  in  particular.” 

In  1727,  George  I.  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  George  II.,  who 
reigned  until  1760.  An  act  was  passed  by  the  Irish  Parliament,  in 
1728,  providing  that  no  Roman  Catholic  should  vote  at  the  election 
of  members  of  Parliament.  Two  years  afterwards,  a law  was 
enacted  for  promoting  agriculture  and  the  better  employment  of 
the  poor. 

On  the  second  attempt  in  favor  of  the  dethroned  Stuart  family, 
by  the  rebellion  in  Scotland,  the  object  of  which  was  to  place 
Charles  Edward,  son  of  the  Pretender,  on  the  British  throne,  the 
Irish  remained  loyal  to  the  house  of  Hanover,  owing  chiefly  to  the 
good  sense  and  liberal  policy  of  the  Earl  of  Chesterfield,  who  was 
then  Lord  Lieutenant.  This  nobleman  relaxed  the  rigor  of  the 
law,  so  far  as  to  overlook  the  breach  of  the  statute  committed  by 
Roman  Catholics,  in  assembling  together  for  Divine  worship. 

In  the  year  1759,  the  landing  of  a French  force,  under  Thurot, 
in  the  north  of  Ireland,  afforded  another  test  of  the  spirit  of  the 
country.  Though  this  petty  invasion  was  merely  a feint  to  veil 
13 


94 


IRISH  VOLUNTEER  ASSOCIATION. 


the  movements  of  a larger  armament,  and  proceeded  no  farther  than 
the  momentary  possession  of  Carrickfergus,  after  which  the  inva- 
ders retired  ; the  sensation  excited  by  it  pervaded  the  whole  island. 
An  expression  of  determined  resistance  was  universally  and  une- 
quivocally displayed. 

The  reign  of  George  III.  extends  over  «i  period  cf  sixty  years, 
namely,  from  1760  to  1820.  Within  that  period,  the  most  moment- 
ous circumstances  took  place.  Ireland  gained  for  herself  a consti- 
stitution,  or  independent  Parliament,  and  lost  it ; she  rebelled,  and 
was  subdued ; she  became  united  to  England,  and  now  struggles 
for  repeal  of  the  union ; she  obtained  Catholic  emancipation,  and 
other  important  privileges.  Within  that  period,  too,  her  greatest 
men,  whose  names  adorn  her  own  history  and  that  of  England, 
appeared  upon  the  scene  ; her  literary  fame  was  exalted,  and  the 
renown  of  her  sons,  in  arms,  was  augmented. 

Irish  Parliaments,  at  one  time  annually  elected,  had  become  of 
equal  length  with  the  life  of  the  reigning  monarch,  unless  dissolved 
by  royal  prerogative.  In  1768,  an  act  was  passed,  limiting  the 
duration  of  the  House  of  Commons  to  eight  years  ; and,  at  the  same 
time,  the  Lord  Lieutenant,  who  had  sometimes  resided  in  England, 
was  required  to  reside  in  Ireland. 

The  breaking  out  of  the  American  war,  in  1775,  afforded  ample 
scope  for  the  newly  acquired  powers  of  the  popular  branch  of  the 
Irish  Legislature.  Enlarged  views  of  the  reciprocal  interests  of 
the  two  great  portions  of  the  empire,  called  for  new  enactments. 
The  Irish  Parliament,  which  had  hitherto  generally  acquiesced  in 
the  arrangements  transmitted  from  England,  began  to  exert  the 
right  of  judging  and  of  legislating  for  itself.  The  agitation  of  the 
American  question,  and  the  unexpected  incidents  consequent  on 
hostilities  with  the  British  transatlantic  colonies,  afforded  new  cause 
of  excitement  to  the  public  mind.  Most  of  the  troops  had  been 
called  out  of  Ireland,  leaving  the  country  exposed  to  the  danger  of 
an  invasion  from  France.  The  people,  therefore,  armed  themselves, 
and  formed  an  organized  army  of  volunteers  of  forty-two  thousand 
men.  They  then  began  to  turn  their  thoughts  towards  the  internal 
improvement  of  the  country,  and  called  on  their  representatives  for 
a repeal  of  obnoxious  laws,  which  had  weakened  the  strength  of 
the  kingdom.  The  volunteer  association  assumed  a new  character  : 
it  became  a deliberative,  as  well  as  a military  body.  A meeting  of 


IRISH  PARLIAMENT  DECLARED  INDEPENDENT,  IN  1782.  95 

delegates  from  all  the  military  corps  in  Ulster,  convened  at  Dungan- 
non, adopted  resolutions  declaratory  of  the  Irish  Parliament  to 
make  laws,  uncontrolled  by  any  external  interference.  The  spirit 
thus  excited,  rapidly  transferred  itself  into  the  Parliament.  Henry 
Grattan  took  the  lead  in  the  House  of  Commons,  in  asserting  the 
independence  of  the  Irish  legislature.  Supported  by  the  combined 
exertions  of  the  advocates  of  the  measure,  both  within  and  without 
its  walls,  he  eventually  succeeded  in  obtaining  an  explicit  renunci- 
ation of  legislative  control  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain.  The  British 
Parliament  passed  acts  placing  the  Parliament  of  Ireland  in  the  same 
state  of  independence,  with  respect  to  its  legislation,  as  that  of  Great 
Britain  ; also,  for  the  independence  of  the  judges,  and  the  right  of 
habeas  corpus.  The  Irish  Parliament  voted  fifty  thousand  pounds 
to  Mr.  Grattan  for  his  services  in  the  struggle  whicli  had  terminated 
so  successfully.  This  was  in  1782,  when  the  English  ministry  had 
lost  the  American  colonies,  and,  with  the  result  of  the  war,  their 
places. 

Several  meetings  of  volunteer  delegates  and  deputies  took  place 
in  1783,  to  prepare  a plan  of  reform ; and  a national  convention  of 
delegates  met  at  Dublin, — but  the  measure  proposed  by  them  was 
rejected  by  Parliament.  The  following  year,  a national  Congress 
of  delegates,  from  counties  and  towns,  met  at  Dublin,  but  effected 
nothing  of  importance.  After  this,  the  volunteers  gradually  declined 
in  numbers  and  spirit,  and  were  finally  put  down  by  a proclama- 
tion from  government,  prohibiting  their  assemblage. 

In  the  year  1789,  a great  international  question  arose,  which 
served  to  show  the  practical  effect  of  the  lately  acquired  indepen- 
dence of  the  Irish  Parliament.  George  III.  beino-  attacked  with 
insanity,  a regency  became  necessary.  The  Parliaments  of  the  two 
countries  were  at  issue  on  the  point.  While  the  Parliament  of  Great 
Britain  determined  to  impose,  restrictions  on  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
as  Regent,  that  of  Ireland  offered  him  the  regency,  unshackled  by 
any  limitations  other  than  those  imposed  by  the  Constitution  on  the 
sovereign  himself.  Matters  stood  thus,  when  the  King  was  declared 
to  be  so  far  restored  to  the  due  use  of  his  mental  faculties,  as  to  be 
enabled  to  resume  the  government.  The  delegates  sent  from  the 
Irish  Parliament  to  London,  returned ; but,  from  that  moment,  the 
British  ministers  determined,  by  an  amalgamation  of  both  Par- 
liaments, to  prevent  the  risk  of  such  collisions  in  future. 


96 


SOCIETY  OF  UNITED  IRISHMEN  FORMED. 


Daring  the  progress  of  these  political  movements,  the  Roman 
Catholics  were  gradually  obtaining  a relaxation  of  the  laws  against 
them.  In  1774,  Parliament  passed  an  act  allowing  them  to  testify 
their  allegiance.  Even  this  was  a boon;  for,  hitherto,  the  exist- 
ence of  a Roman  Catholic  was  not  recognised  in  the  eye  of  the  law. 
In  1778,  they  were  permitted  to  hold  lands  on  leases  for  nine  hun- 
dred and  ninety-nine  years,  on  subscribing  an  oath  of  allegiance  : 
and  were  relieved  from  a law  by  which  a son  might  force  a settle- 
ment from  his  father,  by  professing  conformity  to  the  established 
(Episcopal)  religion. 

In  the  year  1793,  the  progress  of  the  French  revolution  had  ex- 
cited a spirit  of  restless  innovation,  which,  instead  of  endeavoring 
to  obtain  the  redress  of  real  grievances,  by  constitutional  means, 
displayed  itself  in  acts  of  violence  against  the  constituted  authori- 
ties. The  ministry,  partly  with  a view  to  conciliate  the  great  body 
of  the  people,  partly  in  accordance  with  the  growing  spirit  of  liberal- 
ity, granted,  through  the  Irish  Parliament,  to  the  Roman  Catholics, 
besides  several  minor  privileges,  the  right  of  voting  for  the  election 
of  members  of  the  House  of  Commons,  although  none  but  Protesr- 
tants  were  allowed  to  sit  in  Parliament.  But  this  concession  was 
accepted  as  a right  rather  than  as  a favor.  The  spirit  of  discontent 
was  sedulously  fostered  by  a society,  consisting  of  both  Protestants 
and  Roman  Catholics,  formed  in  Belfast,  in  1791,  under  the  name 
of  “United  Irishmen,”  and  afterwards  extended  to  Dublin,  and 
other  places.  Its  professed  object  was  the  obtaining  of  Parliament- 
ary reform;  but,  soon  enlarging  its  views  with  its  increase  of 
strength,  it  determined  on  obtaining  a separation  from  England  by 
force  of  arms.  Such  was  the  activity  of  its  members,  that,  in  a few 
years,  they  had  organized  a secret  confederacy  of  five  hundred  thou- 
sand men.  Their  measures,  at  home,  were  ably  seconded  abroad, 
by  Theobald  Wolfe  Tone,  originally  the  Secretary  of  the  society, 
who,  having  been  forced  to  fly,  in  order  to  avoid  a criminal  prose- 
cution for  high  treason,  succeeded  in  prevailing  on  the  republican 
government  of  France  to  send  a large  armament,  under  their  favor- 
ite, General  Hoche,  to  invade  Ireland.  The  fleet,  by  a most  daring 
manoeuvre,  arrived  in  safety  on  the  south  coast  of  Ireland  ; but  the 
vessel  of  their  commander-in-chief  having  been  separated  from  the 
rest  by  a storm,  Grouchy,  the  next  in  command,  by  his  indecision, 
lost  the  opportunity  of  effecting  a landing,  and  the  fleet,  after  lying 


SUPPRESSION  OF  THE  REBELLION, 


97 


a few  days  in  Ban  try  Bay,  retraced  its  course,  and,  with  the  loss  of 
three  vessels,  the  remainder  arrived  at  Brest,  in  safety. 

The  possibility  of  the  recurrence  of  such  a visitation,  urged  the 
government  to  use  the  most  vigorous  and  even  violent  means  for 
its  prevention.  The  Protestants  were  all  armed  under  the  name  of 
Yeomanry.  The  country  was  put  under  military  law  ; suspected 
persons  were  seized,  tried  by  court  martial,  and  scourged  or  exe- 
cuted by  its  summary  sentence.  Torture  was  employed  to  force 
confession.  At  length,  in  the  spring  of  1798,  the  rebellion  which 
had  been  fermented  by  the  United  Irishmen,  and  urged  forward  by 
the  barbarities  of  the  government,  burst  forth  in  the  counties  of 
Wexford  and  Antrim.  After  a short,  but  sanguinary  struggle,  it 
was  quelled.  A small  force  of  about  one  thousand  French  landed 
in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  at  Killala,  and  after  routing  the 
troops  collected  to  oppose  them,  penetrated  as  far  as  the  county  of 
Longford,  where  they  surrendered  to  the  overwhelming  numbers 
brought  against  them  by  Lord  Cornwallis,  then  Lord  Lieutenant. 

With  the  reduction  of  the  ravaging  bands  in  the  mountains  of 
Wicklow,  and  with  the  death  of  Tone,  the  chief  conspirator,  ended 
this  rebellion.  No  sooner  had  the  agitation,  caused  by  the  rebellion 
subsided,  than  the  public  attention  was  called  to  the  discussion  of 
that  most  important  measure,  a legislative  union  between  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  ; — a measure  which  was  never  lost  sight  of  by 
the  British  government,  since  the  period  of  the  regency  question,  in 
1789.  The  means  necessary  to  carry  this  measure  were  now 
entrusted  to  the  management  of  Lord  Cornwallis,  (Lord  Lieuten- 
ant,) the  same  who  surrendered  to  the  American  and  French  ar- 
mies, at  Yorktown,  in  the  United  States,  in  1781.  This  union  was 
now  recommended  by  the  Viceroy,  in  the  name  of  the  King,  to  the 
Irish  Parliament,  in  1799,  when  the  principal  manager  on  the  part 
of  the  crown  was  Lord  Castlereagh.  In  the  House  of  Lords  a 
favorable  address  respecting  union  was  voted  by  a large  majority  ; 
in  the  Commons,  after  a long  debate,  there  was  a majority  of  only 
one  in  favor  of  the  measure,  (one  hundred  and  six  to  one  hundred 
and  five  ;)  when  it  was  again  brought  forward,  however,  those 
who  opposed  the  union  had  a majority  of  five,  (one  hundred  and 
eleven  to  one  hundred  and  six,)  and  it  was  therefore  postponed 
until  the  next  session.  When  the  Irish  Parliament  again  assembled, 
on  the  loth  of  January,  1800,  the  subject  of  union  became  the 


98 


THE  UNION  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN. 


principal  topic  of  discussion.  The  opposition  had  decreased  con- 
siderably since  the  preceding  year,  although  the  people  were  divided 
throughout  Ireland  into  unionists  and  anti-unionists.  After  ani- 
mated debates,  the  bill  incorporating  the  two  kingdoms  into  one, 
passed  the  House  of  Commons,  by  a vote  of  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
eight  to  one  hundred  and  fifteen,  and  the  House  of  Lords,  on  the 
first  resolution,  by  a vote  of  seventy-five  to  twenty-six. 

The  debates  on  the  question  of  union  were  protracted,  and  marked 
with  distinguished  ability.  Among  the  most  prominent  advocates  of 
the  measure  in  the  House  of  Commons,  were  Lord  Castlereagh,  Mr. 
W.  Smith,  Colonel  Fitzgerald,  Mr.  MacClelland,  General  Loftus,  and 
Lord  Charles  Fitzgerald,  and  the  opponents  were  Mr.  Henry  Grattan, 
Sir  John  Parnell,  R.  L.  Edgeworth,*  John  C.  Beresford,  G.  Pon- 
sonby,  Mr.  Burrowes,  and  Mr.  O’Donnell.  While  the  subject  was 
under  discussion  the  unionists  were  insulted  by  the  lower  classes 
of  the  people,  and  the  public  prints  joined  in  the  clamor.  Accord- 
ing to  Mr.  O’Connell’s  statement,  while  the  union  was  in  progress 
the  habeas  corpus  act  was  suspended — all  constitutional  freedom 
was  annihilated  in  Ireland — martial  law  was  proclaimed — the  voice 
of  Ireland  was  suppressed — the  Irish  people  had  no  protection— thus 
the  union  was  achieved  in  total  despite  of  the  Irish  nation.” 

Mr.  O’Connell  also  says,  “ the  union  was  inflicted  on  Ireland  by 
the  combined  operation  of  terror,  torture,  force,  fraud,  and  corrup- 
tion. The  pecuniary  corruption  amounted  altogether  to  about  three 
millions  of  pounds  sterling.  But  this  was  not  all — the  expenditure 
of  patronage  was  still  more  open,  avowed,  and  profligate  ; peerages 
were  a familiar  article  of  traffic— in  short  all  grades  of  offices — the 
sanctuary  of  the  law  and  the  temple  of  religion  weretrafficed  upon 
as  bribes,  and  given  in  exchange  for  votes  in  Parliament  in  favor  of 
the  union.” 

With  all  due  respect  for  “ the  Liberator,”  we  find  it  difficult  to 
admit  the  justice  of  this  wholesale  denunciation  of  his  countrymen, 
whatever  may  be  said  of  the  British  government,  for  it  must  be 
recollected,  that  seventy-five  Irish  Peers  and  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
eisfht  Irish  members  of  the  House  of  Commons  voted  for  the  union. 
Some  allowance,  perhaps,  should  be  made  for  the  hyperbolical  lan- 
guage in  which  political  men  sometimes  indulge  in  the  enthusiasm 
of  argument  or  debate. 

* Father  of  Miss  Maria  Edgeworth,  the  authoress. 


CATHOLIC  EMANCIPATION  REFUSED. 


99 


Soon  after  the  union  bill  had  passed  through  both  houses  of  the 
Irish  Parliament,  Mr.  Pitt  brought  a bill  in  the  same  form  into  the 
British  House  of  Commons,  where  it  passed  with  but  little  opposition, 
and  the  House  of  Lords  adopted  it  without  a division.  On  the  2d  of 
July,  1S00,  it  received  the  King’s  signature,  and  went  into  opera- 
tion on  the  1st  January,  1801. 

By  the  act  of  union,  the  representation  of  Ireland  was  fixed  at 
twenty-eight  Peers  and  four  Prelates,  to  the  British  House  of  Lords, 
and  one  hundred  members  to  be  elected  to  the  House  of  Commons. 
This  was  not  considered  a fair  proportion  .of  the  representation  to 
which  Ireland  was  entitled  in  the  British  Parliament.  It  would 
probably  have  been  better  for  both  countries,  had  one  hundred 
Peers  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  Commoners,  at  least,  been  allowed 
seats  in  the  United'Parliament,  as  representatives  of  Ireland.* 

It  had  been  generally  understood,  while  negociating  the  union, 
that,  in  the  event  of  its  taking  place,  the  Catholics  might  look  for- 
ward to  the  removal  of  their  disabilities.  The  hopes  held  out  for 
Catholic  emancipation  induced  many  of  the  Catholics  to  favor  the 
union,  and  others  to  remain  neutral  on  the  question  ; although  the 
majority  of  those  of  that  faith,  as  well  as  of  the  Protestants,  were 
probably  opposed  to  the  measure.  In  the  expectations,  however, 
which  the  Catholics  had  been  led  to  form,  they  were  disappointed; 
and  the  friends  of  this  measure  were  baffled  in  several  attempts 
which  they  made  to  procure  the  repeal  of  Catholic  disabilities. 

While  the  Earl  of  Rosslyn  was  the  keeper  of  the  conscience  of 
his  majesty,  George  III.,  the  question  was  first  mooted,  whether  the 
emancipation  of  the  Catholics  in  Ireland  would  be  an  infringement 
of  the  coronation  oath,  which  enjoins  upon  the  sovereign  the  duty 
of  preserving  and  defending  the  Protestant  religion.  The  doctrine 
was  particularly  enforced  in  the  enfeebling  hour  of  disease,  and  the 
impression  gained  with  convalescence.  The  fancy  that  took  pos- 
session of  the  mind  of  the  King  on  this  subject,  which  led  to  his  de- 
claration that  he  never  would  consent  to  Catholic  emancipation,  is 
supposed  to  have  been  impressed  upon  him  by  the  suggestions  or 
arguments  of  Lord  Loughborough,  a most  subtle  law  officer  of  the 
crown.  George  III.,  being  thus  restrained,  by  conscientious  scru- 
ples, from  allowing  his  ministers  to  redeem  their  pledges,  given  or 

* The  discontents  caused  by  the  union  broke  out  in  an  insurrection  in  1803,  headed  by 
Mr.  Robert  Emmett,  which  was  soon  suppressed.  Mr.  Emmett  was  tried  and  executed. 


100 


AGITATION  OF  THE  CATHOLIC  QUESTION. 


implied,  to  grant  Catholic  emancipation,  Mr.  Pitt,  Prime  Minister* 
and  others  of  the  cabinet,  resigned.  Mr.  Pitt  was  afterwards  cen- 
sured for  consenting  to  return  to  power,  under  these  circumstances. 
The  public  mind,  both  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  became  much 
excited  on  the  Catholic  question.  Many  pamphlets  appeared  on  each 
side.  It  created  a new  point  for  political  adventurers  to  rally  round  ; 
all  the  seceders  from  Mr.  Pitt  who  emulated  not  his  virtue,  in  sacri- 
ficing  situation  to  principle,  ranged  themselves  underpins  new 
banner.  On  one  side  the  whole  corps  in  office,  flanked  by  all  the 
dependants  and  expectants  upon  government  patronage,  and  sup- 
ported by  certain  members  of  the  two  hierarchies,  British  and  Hiber- 
nian, maintained  that  Catholic  emancipation  would  be  a direct  vio- 
lation of  the  coronation  oath.  On  the  other  hand,  the  public  beheld 
the  unusual  phenomenon  of  the  great  political  rivals,  Pitt  and  Fox, 
with  their  respective  friends  and  adherents,  maintaining  the  impe- 
perious  necessity  of  the  measure,  and  denying  that  the  free  will  of 
the  Executive  could,  in  any  possible  case,  be  constitutionally  fet- 
terred  from  assenting  to  whatever  bill  the  Lords  and  Commons  may 
advise  ; that  the  coronation  oath,  by  its  words  and  spirit,  enjoins  the 
observance  of  existing  laws  ; and  the  constitution  leaves  them  es- 
sentially open  to  repeal  and  modification,  according  to  the  exigen- 
cies of  times  and  circumstances. 

The  reign  of  George  III.  continued  until  1820,  but  as  the  House 
of  Lords  was  opposed  to  Catholic  emancipation,  the  King  was 
never  called  upon  to  veto  any  bill  for  that  object.  In  1810,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  indisposition  of  his  majesty,  the  Prince  of  Wales 
was  appointed  Regent  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  and  succeeded 
his  father,  in  1820,  under  the  title  of  George  IV.; — he  reigned 
until  1830,  and  by  him  was  the  bill  for  the  removal  of  the  dis- 
abilities of  the  Catholics  signed,  in  1829.  Three  times  previously 
had  the  House  of  Commons  passed  a similar  bill,  and  each  of  those 
times  was  the  measure  rejected.  “ The  House  of  Lords,  however, 
yielded  to  the  fourth  assault,  backed  as  it  was,  by  the  power  of  the 
Irish  nation.” 

Amongst  those  to  whom  the  cause  of  Catholic  emancipation  is 
indebted  for  its  success,  the  most  prominent  is  its  noted  champion, 
Daniel  O’Connell,  who  wielded  the  power  which  he  gradually  ob- 
tained, with  talent  and  energy,  far  surpassing  any  of  his  predecessors 
in  the  same  cause.  Mr.  O’Connell  was  born  in  the  year  1776,  in  the 


MR.  O’CONNELL  AND  THE  CATHOLIC  ASSOCIATION.  101 

county  of  Kerry,  his  father,  Morgan  O’Connell,  having  been  one  of 
twenty-two  children,  of  whom  several  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty  years. 
The  family  are  to  the  present  day  extensive  proprietors  of  land  in 
the  county  of  Kerry,  having  in  this  respect  distinguished  themselves 
from  many  Irish  families,  who  have  neither  retained  their  ancient 
patrimony,  nor  received  for  it  any  reasonable  equivalent.  Mr. 
O’ConneUfis  descended  from  a line  of  ancestors,  who  once  enjoyed 
regal  swfy  in  that  part  of  Ireland.  Kerry  was  once  the  kingdom  of 
Iveragh,  and  Mr.  O’Connell  is  now  at  the  head  of  one  of  those  great 
Irish  septs,  of  which  we  have  so  frequently  made  mention  in  this 
history.  The  territorial  revenue  of  his  inheritance  is  said  to  be 
now  four  or  five  thousand  pounds  per  year.  He  was  admitted  to 
the  Irish  bar  in  1798,  and  soon  rose  to  eminence  as  a lawyer.  We 
believe  he  first  appeared  in  political  life,  as  an  opponent  of  the  union, 
at  a meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Dublin,  in  1S00,  on  that  subject. 

When  the  Catholics  organized,  a few  years  afterwards,  for  the 
purpose  of  urging  their  claims  for  relief,  Mr.  O’Connell  took  a 
prominent  part  among  them,  particularly  in  1S09.  Mr.  Grattan 
presented  their  petition  to  Parliament  in  February,  1S10,  which,  of 
course,  was  unsuccessful. 

The  visit  of  George  IV.  to  Ireland,  in  1821,  was  viewed  by  the 
Irish  Catholics  as  an  event  likely  to  be  of  paramount  importance. 
The  Catholics  and  Protestants  united  to  do  honor  to  the  Kino-.  Mr. 
O’Connell  and  Mr.  O’Gorman  were  the  first  to  proffer,  at  the  head 
of  the  Catholics,  their  unbounded  devotion  to  his  majesty.  Every 
where  he  was  hailed  by  the  populace  as  the  extinguisher  of  discord 
and  the  father  of  his  people.  The  King  ordered  a letter  to  be  ad- 
dressed to  the  Irish  people  full  of  excellent  counsel,  advising  peace 
and  union,  but  of  the  actual  redress  of  their  grievances,  it  said  not  a 
word. 

The  Catholic  association  was  formed  in  1823,  through  means 
brought  about  by  Mr.  O’Connell  and  Mr.  Sheil,  who  resolved,  at 
that  time,  to  make  an  effort  to  arouse  the  Catholic  people  of  Ireland. 
The  association  was  formed  by  thirteen  persons,  who  met  in  Dub- 
lin, on  the  25th  of  May,  1823.  Of  this  body  Mr.  O’Connell  was  the 
heart  and  soul ; and  its  auxiliaries  soon  spread  over  the  island,  and 
it  became  the  most  powerful  instrument  in  bringing  about  Catholic 
emancipation. 


14 


102 


CATHOLIC  EMANCIPATION  BILL  PASSED. 


In  1825,  the  British  Parliament  passed  an  act  to  suppress  the 
association,  and  other  unlawful  societies.  In  1827,  a motion,  favor- 
able to  the  Catholics,  was  lost  in  the  House  of  Commons,  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy-six  to  two  hundred  and  seventy-two.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year,  it  was  carried,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  by  a major- 
ity of  six,  and  lost,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  by  forty-four.  The  same 
year,  the  Catholics  resolved  to  try  the  expedient  of  electing  Mr. 
O’Connell  to  Parliament,  which  was  effected  from  the  <k>unty  of 
Clare,  notwithstanding  the  legal  disabilities  in  the  case.  He,  of 
course,  refused  to  take  the  oaths  required,  and  was  refused  his  seat 
in  the  British  House  of  Commons.  In  1829,  as  we  have  mentioned, 
the  Catholic  emancipation  bill  was  passed  by  Parliament.  This 
was  during  the  administration  of  Wellington  and  Peel,  who  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  sound  policy  required  this  concession  to  the 
Catholics.  Mr.  O’Connell  was  then  re-elected  from  Clare. 

The  Catholic  Emancipation  Bill  was  carried  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  by  three  hundred  and  fifty-three,  against  one  hundred 
and  eighty,  and  by  two  hundred  and  seventeen  to  one  hundred  and 
twelve,  in  the  House  of  Lords.  The  agitations  respecting  the  Catno- 
lic  Relief  Bill,  had,  in  some  measure,  subsided,  when,  June  26, 
1830,  George  IV.  died.,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother,  the 
Duke  of  Clarence,  under  the  title  of  William  IV.  This  monarch 
reigned  until  the  20th  of  .Tune,  1837,  when,  on  his  death,  he  was 
succeeded  by  his  niece,  Victoria,  (her  present  majesty,)  who  was 
then  in  her  eighteenth  year.  In  the  reign  of  William  IV.,  the  Re- 
form Bill  was  passed,  by  which  the  representation  of  Ireland,  in  the 
British  House  of  Commons,  was  increased  five  members,  viz.:  from 
one  hundred,  to  one  hundred  and  five  ; and  thus  a favorable  oppor- 
tunity was  omitted  of  doing  justice  to  Ireland,  by  giving  her,  at 
least,  fifty  members  more,  as  a fair  proportion  of  the  House,  com- 
pared with  Great  Britain. 

During  the  summer  of  1834,  the  Whig  ministry  endeavored  to 
carry  through  Parliament,  a bill  to  enable  them  to  take  unusual 
measures  for  restraining  turbulence  in  Ireland.  In  consequence  of 
a difficulty  experienced  in  passing  the  bill,  Earl  Grey  and  Lord 
Althorp  resigned  their  situations.  Viscount  Melbourne  was  then 
appointed  Prime  Minister,  and  Lord  Althorp  was  induced  to  re- 
sume office.  The  Irish  Coercion  Bill,  with  certain  alterations,  was 
then  passed.  On  the  23rd  of  April,  1834,  Mr.  O’Connell,  who  had 


LAWS  PASSED  FOR  THE  BENEFIT  OF  IRELAND. 


103 


been  elected  from  the  city  of  Dublin,  made  a motion,  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  relative  to  a repeal  of  the  legislative  union  of  Ireland 
with  Great  Britain,  which  was  rejected — five  hundred  and  twenty- 
three  to  thirty-eight, — all  of  the  Repealers , except  one , being  Irish 
members. 

King  William  IV.,  in  consequence  of  an  address  from  Parlia- 
ment, appointed,  in  1833,  a commission  of  Protestant  and  Catholic 
gentlemen,  including  several  Prelates,  to  inquire  into  the  condition 
of  the  poorer  classes  in  Ireland,  and  into  the  various  institutions 
established  for  their  relief.  This  inquiry  lasted  untM  1836,  when 
the  commissioners  made  their  report  to  Parliament,  embodying 
much  interesting  information  respecting  the  condition  of  the  people 
of  Ireland,  and  recommending  certain  measures  for  their  relief. 
Since  that  time,  the  British  Parliament  have  passed  several  impor- 
tant laws,  intended  for  the  benefit  of  Ireland,  particularly  acts  re- 
lating to  tithes,  and  others  extending  the  privileges  of  the  people 
with  regard  to  municipal  corporations ; also,  in  1S38,  “ an  act  for 
the  more  effectual  relief  of  the  destitute  poor  in  Ireland  by 
which,  among  other  provisions,  work  houses  and  houses  of  indus- 
try were  to  be  provided  for  the  employment  of  the  poor.  This  act 
is  disapproved  of  by  Mr.  O’Connell,  and  others  in  Ireland;  but 
many  think  it  requires  more  time  than  it  has  had,  to  test  its  practi- 
cal effects. 


TITHES,  AND  THE  ESTABLISHED  CHURCH  IN  IRELAND. 

One  great  cause  of  dissatisfaction  among  the  Irish  people,  is  the  operation  of  the  laws 
for  the  support  of  religion,  particularly  the  tithe  system.  The  tithes,  which,  at  the  period 
they  were  fixed  in  each  parish,  were  regarded  as  a benefit,  have  been  so  perverted,  in 
Ireland,  from  the  object  of  their  institution,  that  they  are  regarded  as  a crying  abuse  ; and 
in  fact,  have  become  such.  The  Benedictine,  and  other  orders  of  Catholic  monks,  in  the 
middle  ages,  had  many  ecclesiastical  establishments  in  Ireland  ; and  it  was  these  orders 
that  founded,  successively,  all  the  livings,  in  places  where  a certain  number  of  cottages 
were  clustered  together. 

The  inhabitants  helped  to  support  these  establishments,  by  paying  a tithe  of  their  har- 
vests; and  they  experienced,  in  fact,  a great  advantage,  as  the  order  which  founded  the 
living,  erected  a church  and  gave  them  a pastor,  who  spared  them  long  journeys  to  per- 
form their  religious  duties— who  instructed  their  children— who  was  their  physician,  in 
times  of  sickness— arbiter  in  their  disputes— and,  being  in  correspondence  with  those 
orders  who  were  the  most  skilful  agriculturists  in  Europe,  instructed  them  in  the  art  of 
agriculture,  till  then  unknown  At  the  period  referred  to,  were  imported  into  England 
and  Ireland,  cattle,  trees,  and  plants,  which  had  never  before  been  known  in  those  coun- 


104 


TITHES  AND  CHURCH  ESTABLISHMENT. 


tries.  The  fact  deserves  attention,  that  this  tithe  formed  a kind  of  link  between  the  igno- 
rant and  the  learned,  the  poor  and  the  rich  ; and  that  the  richest  countries  were  those  in 
which  there  were  large  and  small  tithes;  because,  there  the  rich  and  the  learned  enjoyed 
a wider  field  of  action,  than  in  those  parts  where  the  portion  of  the-clergy  was  limited  to 
the  thirtieth  sheaf  of  corn.  We  must  further  remark,  that,  where  the  cultivator  was 
not  the  land  owner,  but  only  the  tenant,  or  occuPier,  the  payment  of  this  tithe  did  not  fall 
upon  him;  for  he  took  the  farm  on  lease,  at  a ’ ice  proportioned  to  the  burdens  which  it 
had  to  support;  and,  in  the  end,  the  whole  was  expended  in  the  parish. 

At  the  period  of  the  Reformation,  this  association  was  destroyed,  and  ecclesiastical  pro- 
perty confiscated.  The  produce  of  the  tithes  was  given  to  Protestant  Episcopal  Clergy- 
men, many  of  whom,  having  no  flocks,  resided  in  Dublin  or  England  ; leaving  the  Catholic 
agriculturists  under  the  conscientious  scruple  of  paying  tithes  to  those  they  considered 
heretics,  and  of  giving  a morsel  of  bread  to  their  own  Catholic  Pastor, — which  they  have 
done,  for  three  centuries,  with  a devotion  that  proves  the  sincerity  of  their  attachment  to 
the  religion  of  their  fathers,  and  to  their  sacerdotal  institutions.  The  Presbyterians,  and 
other  Protestant  Dissenters,  are  in  the  same  position  with  the  Catholics,  as  to  tithes. 

Notwithstanding  that  the  number  of  the  members  of  the  established  (Episcopal)  Church 
is  comparatively  small  in  Ireland,  (he  tithes  have  been  levied  with  the  greatest  rigor. 
The  following  is  a table  of  the  number  of  Episcopal  livings  and  parishes,  in  each  ecclesi- 
astical province  of  Ireland,  furnished  by  the  Commissioners  who,  in  1834,  were  charged  to 
inquire  into  the  state  of  instruction  : 


Ecclesiastical  Provinces. 

Number  of  Livings. 

Parishes. 

Episcopal  population. 

Armagh,  (Ulster,) 

552 

658 

517,722 

Dublin,  (Leinster,) 

311 

624 

177,930 

Cashel,  (Munster,) 

469 

791 

111,813 

Tuam,  (Connaught,) 

103 

275 

44,599 

Total, 

1435 

2348 

852,064 

This  shows  an  average  of  only  363  persons,  (men,  women,  and  children,)  to  a parish, 
and  less  than  COO  persons,  on  an  average,  to  each  living.  The  amount  of  the  tithes  varies 
much  in  the  different  parishes,  viz.  from  Id.  to  4s,  per  acre.  In  some  of  the  parishes  where 
tithes  are  exacted,  there  are  no  Protestants.  The  tithe  composition,  for  the  whole  tithe- 
able  land  of  Ireland,  amounts  to  about  £665,000  a year ; of  this,  about  £555,000  is  for 
ecclesiastical,  and  £110,000  for  lay  tithe. 

.The  fixed  resources  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  in  Ireland,  are  abundantly  sufficient  for  the 
support  of  the  establishment.  The  Church  possessed,  in  1834,  669,247  acres,  on  which,  if 
leased  at  only  £1  per  acre,  the  rents  would  be  more  than  sufficient  to  provide  incomes  for 
the  Prelates  and  Clergy,  on  the  following  scale: — 2 Archbishops,  £4,000 each;  10  Bishops, 
£3,000  each;  1435  beneficed  Clergy,  at  £300  each,  on  aa  average;  670  Curates,  at  £150 
each;  leaving  a large  surplus  for  contingencies. 

The  annual  revenues  of  the  Archbishops  and  Bishops,  in  1831,  (then  22  in  number,  now 
reduced  to  12,)  amounted  to  £151,128,  and  the  total  income  of  the  established  Church  was 
£865,535.  The  tithes  of  most  parishes  have  since  been  compounded  for, — the  amount 
being  estimated,  as  we  have  stated,  at  £555,000,  for  ecclesiastical  purposes.  The  amount 
of  church  revenues,  in  1833,  was  stated  at  £937,456,  including  £657,670  for  tithes. 

The  population  of  Ireland,  according  to  the  different  religions,  as  furnished  by  the  Com- 
missioners of  Inquiry,  in  1834,  was — Roman  Catholics,  6,427,712:  Episcopalians, 852,064; 
Presbyterians,  642,356;  other  Dissenters,  21, 80S;  total,  7,943,440.  The  present  population 
is  about  eight  millions  five  hundred  thousand,  of  whom  about  82  per  cent,  are  Catholics,  10 
per  cent.  Episcopalians,  and  8 per  cent.  Presbyterians  and  other  Dissenters. 


A 

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Vi 


Date  Due 


941.5  W722P 


367302 


